Princess Ashanti Parts 1.0 through 3.0
by Denigoddess2001
Summary: This story takes place after Sojourner and Charger Tales. There is never any such thing as a happy ending.
1. Shades Of Grey

Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
08/10/01  
Princess Ashanti 1.0  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gargoyles. They belong to Disney. I do not own X-Men. They belong to Marvel Comics. All original characters belong to Denigoddess2001.  
  
I do not mean to offend anyone with this work. Every good character must have a good flaw to make him or her believable. I DO NOT endorse bigotry based upon gender, orientation, religion, creed or color. Yet, such a thing could happen in the Marvel Universe, why not the Gargiverse? What would happen if Puck decided to run amok with a little magick?  
  
This work is rated R for strong content, strong language and adult themes  
  
Wren felt the rays of morning gently warm the contours of her face. She turned in the direction of the morning and saw the bright morning sun greeting her cheerily. She looked at interior of the cabin that Demetrius had so painstakingly made a den. It charmed her that he was so far to honor her with an ancient Gargoyle custom.  
  
It went further than honoring tradition. Demetrius was a stickler for every minute detail. Combined with an artistic eye, a diligent pursuit of excellence, and fiery idealism and she had her lover in once complex, enigmatic package. He had taken her to his specially prepared love nest and made love with her well into the night.  
  
[I guess that since we were married by a goddess, that makes it legal.] She mused. She appreciated deeply Xanatos' "documents" given to them as a joining present. The packet included birth certificates, marriage licenses, college transcripts, credit cards, and various other things needed for Demetrius to assume his human identity during daylight hours. She knew it to be a gift to them from the Powers-That-Be.  
  
[It wouldn't be so bad to stay here. Gargoyles are accepted here in this dimension more so than in ours. We can have a good life. We could have the house, the kids, the mini-van and the family dog. We'd just have horns and talons after dark. It wouldn't be so bad. Demetrius would acclimate. I'd adjust It's not like I left anyone behind.]  
  
[Liar.] She chided herself.  
  
She missed HER Owen, her David, and her Hudson. She longed to speak to be with the other members of the clan: Veda, Kellen, Coldfire, Coldstone, Angus and Brooklyn. The only one she never wanted to see again was Atalanta. The golden Gargoyle was the only that Wren detested with the greatest of passions.  
  
She remembered that innocent night on Caledon Isle that Scottish July evening. It had been a night of celebration for the clan around the bonfire. Wren felt sentiment fill her mind as she thought of those first halcyon nights when times with Demetrius were unfettered and innocent. They walked leisurely to Atalanta's forge and watched her work.  
  
"Atalanta, wellmet!" Demetrius and the golden Gargoyle grasped their wrists in greeting. "How comes your work this night?"  
  
"Well." Atalanta said nothing as she quickly glanced at the human and then, just as quickly, ignored her. "Brother, what brings you by this way?" You finally chose to participate in the festivities?"  
  
"I was detained for a short time." He replied warily.  
  
Atalanta again looked disdainfully at the human female beside him. "I can only guess why."  
  
Wren heard the sneer in her words. The golden Gargoyle was one of the few that shunned the overtures made by Xanatos and the others. She felt great anger at most humans for the atrocities committed by them against the clan. Atalanta thought of them as nothing more than hairless apes only good for destroying one another.  
  
Demetrius stood as a fortress behind Wren. She felt his warm hands rest easily on her shoulders.  
  
[Even then, he protected me. How did he know that our friendship would come this great love?] Wren marveled at how early their affinity had began.  
  
Slumber left her as consciousness filled her mind. [This is the first day of the rest of my life with Demetrius. I'll be damned if I'm going to let Atalanta ruin my happiness. That little scenario happened in another place and another time.]  
  
Wren found Demetrius a multifarious fusion of ancient and modern, Gargoyle and Human. By Clan terms, he was an eccentric maverick. He openly embraced human contact and kindness. He avidly learned human language and customs. He adored human cuisine and entertainment. He loved a human woman. His essence was idealistic, fiery, ardent, and teasing; truly unlike the stoic and taciturn temperaments that trademarked the rest of his clan.  
  
Wren knew where his heart lie. She knew it was treason to sway him from the Gargoyle way. It defined him. It was who he was and what he did. He was truly Gargoyle. His first instinct was to protect. The night that Wren wanted him to remain while Goliath and the others fought Ares, Demetrius refused her plea for him to stay. It was one of the incredibly rare times when they were at odds. He honored Gargoyle custom when he took her to den and wanted to her to become his mate under the light of a mating moon. His loyalty was unquestionable. He kept his word to the letter. His Gargoyle instincts were primal and fierce.   
  
[This isn't his home. He needs his clan. He needs Caledon. This clan isn't his or mine. Where I go, he goes. Well, now I realize the sacrifices he has made to keep that simple promise.] She blamed the stinging mist in her eyes on staring into the morning sun. [What you need, I will give you. I promise.]  
  
Ten days in this wonderful dimension allowed them their taste of Paradise. She had enough faith in their love to know they stood a good chance of being together for a very long time. Wren inhaled deeply to exorcize the melancholy looming over her. She held her hand up to the light to see if she had slept through her first transformation.  
  
Owen thought it great sport to make her and Demetrius 'half of the other.' Now, at night she became half-gargoyle. At dusk, he became half-human. She realized it to be both a blessing and a curse. They were the only a few "Nightkind" in the entire world. She knew there were others like them; Goliath and Adrienne's daughter, Greer and her half-brother, Darius Maza. Goliath had spoken briefly of a Gargoyle/ Human hybrid named Delilah. Wren counted five total.  
  
She held her hand in the morning light and examined it. Gone were the five slim, tapered talons that marked her transmutation of the previous evening. She saw five human fingers wiggling in front of her. She rolled on her side and let her hand fall to the apex of where her spine and derriere met. She felt no long prehensile appendage lashing to and fro. She felt only her skin.  
  
[I'm human again.] She breathed with relief. Then, it hit her. [Demetrius is HUMAN!!]  
  
[How will Demetrius look as a human? Are his eyes still be lavender as lilacs? Is his face remain wickedly handsome?] Wren eagerly turned away from the morning sun to see for the first time the human face of Demetrius Nightkind. His head remained turned away from her Wren saw that he was entirely covered by the Egyptian cotton linens of their mating bed. She excitedly pulled back the coverlet to view her sleeping mate.  
  
[Black Hair? Demetrius' hair is naturally WHITE!!]   
  
"HOLY SHIT!" She shrieked.  
  
Demetrius bolted abruptly upright. His head darted around. His muscled arms tensed and brought Wren to his smooth chest. "Milady, what ails you? What is wrong?"  
  
"Oh my god." Each word came out as a short, abrupt gasp. "Demetrius... is that YOU?"  
  
She gawked at him as though he had grown a third eye and danced the funky chicken. The dismay on her features caught him unawares. Then, he realized that she was seeing him as a human for the first time. His brow creased in worry. His eyes of lavender darkened to a stormy indigo with her distress.  
  
"Wren, what is wrong?" He asked pointedly. She sat there with mouth agape and jaw slack. He voice seemed to leave her at that moment.  
  
Wren found it difficult to gulp away the large lump lodged in her dry throat. Demetrius held up his hand before him and carefully examined it.  
  
"I have fingers." He whispered in awe. He was a small child receiving that special toy during a birthday. He wiggled them in front of him. A laughter bubbling with joy burst forth. "Wren! By the Dragon, Puck did it. I have five fingers."  
  
"I see that."  
  
"What ails you, Love?" He sensed her withdrawal within herself. "Am I ...unsightly in your eyes as a human?"  
  
"Demetrius...you're exquisite." Wren admitted. There was no dispute that his unearthly beauty transitioned well from Gargoyle to human. His eyes still sparkled with their mischievous lavender hue. His hair remained flowing but was now the color of a raven's wing. His shoulders still were broad. Every sculpted muscle of his physique reminded Wren of Michelangelo's David. His body was smooth, but he carried five-o'clock shadow and brows. His lips were full and sensuous. His cheekbones seemed flawlessly prominent in his strong, classic features.  
  
He had an "Arnold Body with a Denzel face" to quote the song by Salt n-' Peppa. Every contour was sculpted teak. Caramel complexion with a hint of honey greeted her eyes. A brilliant smile melted her heart as she gazed upon him. She also didn't loose the irony that Puck imbued the transformation.  
  
"Aye, Lass. I am. Goliath is lavender, Hudson is tan, Brooklyn is blue and I am black."  
  
"I just wasn't expecting you to look like this."  
  
Her dismay puzzled him. He stared quizzically at his Ladylove.  
  
"Let me see?" He jumped from the bed and walked to the mirror hanging on the wall. She blushed when she remembered how Demetrius told her to brace herself against the bureau before it. He stood behind her and made love to her in a way she never before imagined. Now, he stood there looking at his new form and examining it carefully. He turned around several times in front of the looking glass. He checked out every inch of his new form and shook his head in confusion.  
  
"I look normal, do I not?" He turned to her. "I see no scars or marrings upon my skin. It is pleasing your eye?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. I just thought that you'd be more ...Scottish."  
  
"Do you find my color displeasing?" He asked with a concerned note in his voice.  
  
Wren sat there speechless in their mating bed. She remembered her father's rantings on the need for racial purity. He detested those whom he considered less than human: that meant Mutants. When Robert Summers found out his youngest daughter, Wren was a 'mutie-freak,' he had disowned her and turned her out into the world without money or resources  
.  
Old lessons died hard. She remembered Robert Summer's rejection when she began speaking ancient Aramaic at the dinner table one evening. She heard the hurtful words in her ears as though he were standing next to her shouting them.  
  
"Mutants are dangerous. They need to be corralled."  
  
"Mutants convolute the gene pool. What if they mate with good, decent humans?"  
  
"They're freaks. They endanger our way of life."  
  
"The only good Mutie is a dead mutie."  
  
"My daughter is a freaking Mutie? You're not my child. Your mother must have fucked some freak to get you. Get out of my house before I kill you here and now."  
  
"Mutants need to know their place in society. They're not a part of it."  
  
"I don't want to do business with anyone who's a Mutie-lover."  
  
"No mutant is a daughter of mine...."  
  
"No mutant is a daughter of mine...."  
  
"No mutant is a daughter of mine...."  
  
Scars formed, but the pain of his rejection remained.   
  
"You are not repulsed by my Humanity?" The uncertainty of his voice made Wren feel like an absolute heel. She knew that unlike most Gargoyles, Demetrius took special care with his appearance. That meant every hair in place and every piece of jewelry polished. Her next words would set the course of their path for years to come. It determined the course of their relationship. How strong was her love for Demetrius verses the prejudices ingrained within her by a bigoted, xenophobic father?  
  
"I just wasn't expecting it, I will be honest."  
  
Demetrius looked away from her. His hurt was a deafening silence in their den. She reached out and rested her hand on his forearm.  
  
"You're stunning." She said softly. "Puck ...made you look like an Adonis. Please, come back to bed and make love with me? I need you, Milord."  
  
How would she explain the world that her Beloved was a Scotsman with the looks of a fine looking Brother? She decided to let Destiny work things out later. With that final thought she pushed everything else out of her mind. Not even the sun's light matched the radiant smile that crossed the young man's features. Demetrius turned to his mate and loved her again fiercely and well.  
  
  
*******  
  
A while later Wren marveled at this fascinating new person making breakfast for her in their kitchen. Demetrius quickly made himself at home with pots and pans, bacon and eggs. She gingerly sipped her juice as he prepared French toast. She giggled when she remembered how he disappointed he seemed when he burned the first batch.  
  
[Never come between Demetrius and his pursuit of excellence.] She appreciated the wisdom of her assessment.  
  
He placed a plate of golden French toast and fresh bacon in front of her. The French toast was truly closer to charred than golden and the bacon was over-cooked. Wren silently grimaced at the scorched breakfast sitting before her. She knew the importance of Mahsma (first meal).*  
  
She noticed him gazing at her in eager anticipation. He reminded her a child looking for approval from a discerning parent. Wren looked at him and gave him a waxen smile. "It looks... well-done."  
  
"I hope that you find it pleasing." His eyes never left hers. She nodded slowly now that she faced the moment of truth. She resignedly picked up her fork and cut into the gooey, syrupy mess of French toast. Wren cut the entrée into several small pieces. Their special rapport caused Demetrius' anxiety admittance into her mind. His excitement and uncertainly clued her in on once special fact [It would break his heart if he knew that I didn't like it.]  
  
Cautiously the fork harpooned a small piece. It gradually rose from the plate and toward it's destination. Knowing that she could stall no longer, Wren took a bite. It was sticky and sweet, but actually-  
  
"This is tasty." She spoke with a full mouth. [So much for manners.]  
  
Demetrius' shoulders relaxed with relief at her approval. He nodded impatiently. "You find it to your liking?"  
  
Wren unceremonious stabbed several more pieces of the French toast onto her fork. She forgot her age and her manners and eagerly shoveled them into her mouth. After a night of spirited mateplay, her appetite demanded satisfaction. "Duh us Yuh-hee!"  
  
He cocked his head to the side in a very Gargoylian gesture? "What did you say?"  
  
She took another swig of her juice and swallowed the food in one large gulp. She pointed at the toast with her fork. "I said, this is yummy!"  
  
Between bites, Wren and Demetrius discussed renovations they wished to make to Summerlands. He reminisced about his nights around the bonfires at Castle Wyvern while he had been a hatchling. She secretly envied the fraternity and sorority that Gargoyles shared with clan members. Wren thought Demetrius fortunate to know so much love.  
  
"What about your clan, Wren?"  
  
"Huh" She asked distracted from her inner musings.  
  
"Your family?" He took her empty plate. He rinsed it carefully and placed it in the dishwasher. "You never speak of them. Tell me what it is like growing up in a human family?"  
  
"My daughter is a freaking Mutie? You're not my child. Your mother must have fucked some freak to get you. Get out of my house before I kill you here and now."  
  
Words from years prior peeled like church bells in her mind. She looked to her mate and saw his avid interest. She sighed. "Well, my life growing up was fairly typical. My father worked here in Linoma as a researcher for Neptune Corporation. My mother was an English teacher. I grew up with two brothers and two sisters: Falcon, Hawke, Raven, and Sparrow."  
  
"All were name were after birds?" He thought this to be an unusual Human custom.  
  
"My mother's idea, actually." She shrugged and poured herself another glass of orange juice. "My grandfather was named Robin Goodfellow. My mother's name was Robin. She thought it to be rather clever to name each of us after birds."  
  
"You spoke once of being named after your grandmother?" He inquired further.   
  
"I was named after Elizabeth Claire Goodfellow, Robin's wife."   
  
"You are the eldest of your rookery siblings." Demetrius caught himself quickly and cleared his throat. "I mean, your brothers and sisters.  
  
"No, I'm the youngest."  
  
"Where are they now?"  
  
"Well, Falcon is a Captain in the Army. He's the oldest. Hawke is a mechanic. Raven, well, who's to say with Raven? Last I knew she was working as a Telephone psychic for some Jamaican lady that I see adverstised on late-night infomercials. And Sparrow, I haven't talked to her for a very long time."  
  
"It pains me to hear that. You must miss your family much." Demetrius laid his hand over Wren's.   
  
"I do." Was her simple reply. Wren felt a pang of heartache thump at the inside of her chest. She had neither talked about nor thought about her family for quite some time. She rose from her chair and reached for the half-full pitcher of orange juice. She used the excuse of putting it in the refrigerator to shake off the sadness taunting her.  
  
"I thought you told me your father had passed to the next world." Demetrius probed gently.  
  
"He might as well have died for all I care." She spat. She slammed close the refrigerator door caring little for the fact that it rattled the shelves within.  
  
"His is alive?"  
  
"And well..along with the rest of the Summers brood." Her scathing reply took Demetrius aback. "He can rot in hell for all eternity."  
  
"Wren, you speak harshly of your sire." The softness of his words drew her attention back to the present. "Why is he in such low regard?"  
  
"Where do I start?" She shook her head at the desolate possibility of reliving old memories.  
  
"At the beginning, Milady." He rose from his chair to meet her. He brought his brow to hers. "I wish to know about this part of your life."  
  
He held her hands in his. Teak hands holding alabaster hands reminded Wren all too well why her father was on her shit list. The last words riposted by him were a ceaseless refrain in her thoughts.  
  
"My daughter is a freaking Mutie? You're not my child. Your mother must have fucked some freak to get you. Get out of my house before I kill you here and now."  
  
This amazing being before her was her mate by night and husband by day. It flabbergasted Wren that she had never shared her past with him. They were one heart, one soul, and mind. "You don't want to go there, Demetrius."  
  
"Where you go, I go." He kissed her hands. "Where you lead, I follow."  
  
"I'll tell you, but it isn't a pretty picture."  
  
"Truth, even in it's harshness reveals it's own beauty, Love." His words of encouragement filled her with bittersweetness. He accepted her without question. Her father had questioned her acceptability.  
  
"My father is an intelligent man." She began slowly and carefully chose her words. "He is a good provider for his family and a dutiful husband to my mother. He had an extensive education and is, to my knowledge, still very active in church."  
  
"He is a man of character." He speculated. "And distinction."  
  
"Some would say." She replied cryptically. "He just happens to be a bigoted, racist son-of-a-dog that disowned me at sixteen because I was found to be a mutant."  
  
"I meant not to bring you pain." Demetrius felt remorse as he watched his Ladylove's face turn into a dark mask of restrained hurt, anger and pain. "I have never known rejection from my clan."  
  
"Consider yourself lucky." She scoffed and finished the last of her French toast. "I know it sounds insane, but I miss them."  
  
"Your clan ...family?"  
  
"I do." She rolled her eyes in disbelief. "I actually miss my mother."  
  
"Where did they live?"  
  
"They lived in Linoma Bluffs." She decided to rinse her plate. She let the cold water run over the sticky mess remaining. "Demetrius, it's time we considered returning ...home."  
  
"I know." She hated to see that look of dejection on his face. Lavender eyes closed as if to block out the reality of her words. "We could have a good life, Wren."  
  
"It's not our home, it's not our clan." Every word was ripped from her, as she knew she had to do the right thing. "This is another Earth and another dimension in another time. We belong in a world where there are Mutants. We belong in a world where Clan Wyvern is alive and well."  
  
"You speak truth, Milady." He turned from her to gaze at the newly risen sun. "Yet, this world has given us so much; a new possibility of life. This is a clan where one isn't just another warrior, but an individual. Humans have learned to at least tolerate our kind. At home, we remain hidden because there are those who seek our demise."  
  
"I know it's tempting to stay." She whispered with shining eyes and open arms. "We have to return to the clan. In the end, you'd hate yourself and me if we stayed here."  
  
"I want a good life for you, Milady. I want to raise our progeny in a world where it matters little if they are Gargoyle or Mutant. I want them to know the love of family and the solidarity of clan." She heard the determination building within him.  
  
"Then, we will give our children both when we have them." She smiled. She looked up at him.   
  
As a human he remained an impressive specimen of masculinity. Wren noted he still stood head and shoulders above her. The dark hair was an abrupt change for which she had been unprepared. She knew it was difficult for a Gargoyle living in a human world. How difficult was existence for a Gargoyle living as a human? She prayed to the Powers-That-Be that Demetrius remembered Clan and honor.  
  
"We shall wait until dusk." Demetrius sadly nodded.   
  
"I'd like to tell everyone thank you and good-bye." Wren looked at her rinsed plate.  
  
"As would I, Milady. I wish to spend this day with you as your mate. I hope that you will me as your husband."  
  
"One step at a time." She laughed nervously. "There's a lot for you to learn. Where do I start?"  
  
"How hard can it be to be human?" He asked innocently. "You do it everyday."  
  
"You don't know that half of it." She placed a hand on his broad, smooth chest to stay him. "When were you hatched?'  
  
"I was hatched in the year of our Lord, 946." He said proudly.  
  
"Wrong." She jumped in immediately. "This is 2005. If you tell someone that you were hatched, they'll think you're a candidate for the nearest mental hospital. You were forty-six years old when you were... well, you know."  
  
"MURDERED." He growled. "Vikings murdered my clan. I spend a thousand years lingering in the Shadowlands between life and death because of them."  
  
"I know, Dem." Wren soothed him as best she could. "I know. But, don't tell people you were hatched. Tell them you were born. Gargoyles age one-half the rate of humans. So, that would make you twenty-four."  
  
She went to the envelope provided to them by David Xanatos. She leafed through the documents and paperwork. It wasn't quite the same quality as Professor Xavier, just different. She found what she thought to be Demetrius' birth certificate.  
  
"Demetrius Tiberius Nightkind. Race: African-American. Born September 16, 1981. You turned twenty-four yesterday. No parents are listed." She went on to read the certificate and various other documents. "According to these, you were a ward of the New York State Foster care system until 1995. You were taken in and adopted."  
  
"Adopted." A dreamy expression crossed his handsome features. "I like it."  
  
"We need to be careful with this paperwork. Xanatos meant well, but I don't know if this will match the needed the requirements in our own world."  
  
Wren felt as though she were on Caledon Isle once again as she spent the morning instructing her mate in his history and past. It was a rare time combined of joy and exasperation. They spent the rest of the day teaching Demetrius about certain items of clothing: underwear, jeans, buttoning shirts, tying shoes.  
  
She didn't find it so amusing when he walked against a red light in the middle of rush hour traffic. She wanted to strangle him when she argued with him for twenty minutes that he couldn't relieve himself in public. He seemed at a loss when she tried to explain why men and women had separate restrooms.  
  
It would take too many pages, dear reader, to describe the myriad of experiences that Wren and Demetrius underwent as he spent his first day living a human life in a busy world. That is another tale for another time.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
*AUTHOR'S NOTE: MAHSMA IS AN ANCIENT GARGOYLE WORD THAT LITERALLY MEANS "FIRST MEAL."  
  
  



	2. Primal Predjudice

Princess Ashanti 1.5  
Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
08/15/01  
  
"My Love, the sun is setting." Demetrius turned his gaze to the west. The New York skyline was aglow with a vivid mural of cadmium and vermilion. His flashing lavender gaze spoke silent volumes to his mate. [I do not wish to leave this place, Milady.]  
  
"It's almost time for the change, isn't it?" She shivered at the thought as she felt throbbing sensation in her temples. It wasn't painful, saving for the continuous light sensitivity that accompanied her transformation. He body tingled in anticipation of the transformation. Her heart beat in gleeful anticipation. Her pulse cadenced a rapid rhythm in her wrists as she drank in the fantastic experience. Her breath became shallow with growing excitement. "I can feel it, Demetrius."  
  
He smiled lovingly at his mate. He took her hands in his and nodded. "Tell me what moves within you?"  
  
"I feel as though I've been walking around ...in a haze all day." She sought to find the words that best described that which was not normally discussed. "As we get closer to dusk, I want to let loose and be free. I know something's coming. I just don't know what it is!"  
  
"As I feel it to, Milady." He planted a cherished kiss on her brow. "When the sun is low and stars rise is when we become one and the same."  
  
"Yes. I can't wait. I just can't believe we slept through it this morning." Wren remained aghast that she slumbered while her body experienced magnificent transformations. "I want to know how it feels and what happens to us...to me and to you."  
  
The sun sank below the majestic skyscrapers standing the western horizon. The sound of crumbling stone filled the expanse of Castle Wyvern. Both turned their eyes in the direction of the fierce statues posed protectively about the castle tower. Eye glowed beneath gray granite. The crevices spread throughout the stone. Yawns became thundering roars as the shards flew outwards from the forms. Beneath the gray stone shrouds, seven winged guardians of New York City came to life.  
  
The smallest of the Gargoyles freed himself from his stone slumber and eagerly leapt from his perch. Lexington's wide eyes held friendly greeting. Wren smiled a warm regard as she shielded herself from the lying flecks of stone. Broadway and Angela soon followed and were preceded by Brooklyn and Hudson. Finally, the bellowing thunder of Goliath's roar seemed to shake the very ground beneath their feet.  
  
"I never get tired of seeing that." She gripped Demetrius' hand until his knuckles were almost white. "I miss watching you awaken."  
  
The desire to burst free of her human confines overcame her. An itch overcame her entire body. The rush and euphoria of riding a roller coaster assaulted her senses. Wren felt her limbs lengthen. She felt her teeth tingle as her canines elongated into delicate, effective fangs. The colors of night became much clearer and vivid as pristine clarity replaced the murkiness of human night vision. She saw five fingers darken to golden tan and become five slender talons. She felt a tickling sensation as she knew her tail grew from the edge of her spine. Somewhere in the night a Dame's snarl echoed along the monoliths of steel and stone. It registered in the depths of her semi-lucid consciousness that the feral snarl originated from her throat.  
  
She noticed that her jeans two sizes to large and six inches too long now fit like a second skin. She nodded in satisfaction when she saw that her tail sprouted just where she predicted. She carefully calculated that afternoon where to cut the hole in the back of her jeans. Amazed at the changes in herself, she tentatively ran her hands along the four small brow horns at the edge of her hairline. She allowed her talons to gently caress the tapered tips of pointed ears.  
  
She turned her attention to her mate, Demetrius. His transformation continued with his hair lightening from raven's wing to the argent frost white she knew so well. The one remaining black streak mirrored the snowy streak weaving through her dark chestnut tresses. His resounding bellow welcomed the night and signaled the appearance of ebony and heliotrope wings. His eyes gleamed brilliant lavender. Standing before here was the Gargoyle that she knew and loved [with a few minor alterations].  
  
"Goliath, wellmet." Demetrius clasped heartily the wrist of the clan leader. He did likewise and it was as if Wren were watching to long-lost siblings greeting each other after a long absence. The sense of community and unity hummed through the entire clan like a familiar melody.   
  
[There's a collective consciousness going on here.] The realization sent Wren's mind reeling. She watched them immediately turn to her. She closed her eyes to test her next theory. She turned her back to them and attuned herself to that extraordinary melody playing inside her mind.  
  
It was a combination of unknown melody, mountain heather, a physical sensation of bright sunlight and a slight taste of honey. The words 'feminine' and 'friendly' came to mind. She knew exactly who it was.  
  
"Angela, is that you standing behind me?" She crossed her fingers hoping that her theory was right.  
  
"Yes, how did you know?" The voice confirmed all she needed to know. Wren excitedly spun around and impulsively hugged the Dame in front of her.  
  
"Now, I finally understand why you never needed names!" Wren exclaimed. Angela returned the affectionate embrace. The young mutant rushed to Goliath. "I understand now why you never needed names!"  
  
"What do you mean, Wren?" Elisa seemed perplexed by the animated display of satisfaction.  
  
"Elisa, Gargoyles have something like a collective consciousness a concurrence amongst minds. It's a psychic bond unlike anything I've ever felt." The joy of family and clan flowed through her mind like the most magical memories of her early childhood. "It's like seeing my favorite Grandmother as though she were still alive and well. It's feels as though I've the guest of honor at a gathering of my closest friends. It's a wonderful combination of all six senses. Oh, Elisa! I never knew it was like this for them. Each Gargoyle has a separate and distinct aura about them ...a psionic signature if you will."  
  
"I didn't realize it was like that." Elisa replied in a small voice. "It must be really great."  
  
"Elisa, you have a signature too." Wren closed her eyes and immersed herself in Elisa's presence. "It's the taste of cinnamon and sound of reed flutes. The colors of coral and turquoise are accompanied by a howl of a coyote in the distance. The scent of jasmine is all around you. The words 'loyalty' and 'shield' came to mind."  
  
"I didn't know that either." Elisa remained still as if in awe of Wren's assessment.  
  
"Gargoyles have no need for names because they recognize each other by psionic signature the way we use names and images." Wren's tail lashed in excitement. "Demetrius, am I right?"  
  
"You humans do not have this sense of recognition." He confirmed. "How do you tell one another apart other than by name?"  
  
"Sounds, sights...primarily. Scents if someone wears cologne or perfume. The type of car a person drives....habits...just different ways. We don't have that sixth sense like you folks possessed. I never understood until this moment."  
  
"This is something we have to report to Adrienne upon our return." Demetrius considered the significance of Wren's discovery. He simply took it for granted the natural recognition of Gargoyles with one another. "What did you call it?"  
  
"This might be how you know the sun is going to rise even though you may be inside or underground." Wren chattered with joy. "It explains why you folks are so astute on picking up subtleties we humans often miss."  
  
"Milady, I beg you to calm yourself." He chuckled at her newfound knowledge. "It is not so remarkable."  
  
"To you, maybe!" She gave him a look of risen brows that spoke volumes. "I feel like somebody just threw open the window and pushed back the shutters to let the sunshine in a darkened room. A haze has been cleared from my mind, Demetrius. Everything is so much clearer."  
  
"Wren," A quiet baritone gently interrupted her excitement. "How do you feel?"  
  
"I feel joyous! I feel alive! I feel as if I am a part of something special and precious. I feel as if I belong.... Like I'm a member of the family."   
  
"As though you are a member of the clan?" Goliath laid a gentle hand upon her shoulder. "You no longer feel alone or without loved ones?"  
  
"Yes, how did you know?" Her eyes became as wide as saucers.  
  
"Many humans know that feeling of isolation. We all do when we are far away from our clan for a lengthy period of time."  
  
"No wonder there is such closeness between members of a clan." Wren almost felt as though she had wings to wrap around her. Her estrangement from her father made Wren keep to herself. Now, she found much of the love and closeness she craved all of her life within the short span of five minutes.   
  
She sensed a protective presence lingering behind her. She smelled chocolate and ginger. A faint taste of strawberry wine tugged at her memory. The overwhelming sensations of humor, mischief, and honor surrounded her in a garden of ambiance. She knew the touch of his lips upon her skin and the feeling of warmth of his caress. She virtually heard that faint Scottish lilt speaking softly in her ear. She knew that her mate stood behind her.  
  
"You aren't just human anymore, Milady." She saw a mysterious brightness glimmering in smoky amethyst eyes. She thought she heard a tremor in the deep timber of her mate's voice. "You are one of us."  
  
"I finally belong." She whispered. Bemused hazel eyes simply stared at him. No other words aptly described the thousand wondrous sensations that flowed between her and Demetrius and the rest of the clan.   
  
"And how do you like your new present?" A voice interrupted the solemnity of the moment. They turned to see Owen standing there looking flawlessly attired in his double-breasted navy suit. Every blond hair remained in place.  
  
Wren simply ran to him and threw her arms wildly around him. "Thank you, Owen. Thank you, Puck. Thank you for EVERYTHING!!"  
  
He stiffened at her vibrant emotional display. Taken aback by Wren's vivid demonstration of gratitude, he coughed as she nearly squeezed the air from his lungs. "Ms. Summers, I am [hack] glad that you are enjoying [hack hack] your new state of being. [cough choke cough]"  
  
"This is beyond anything I imagined." She nearly jumped for joy right there in front of him. She turned to Demetrius. "Why didn't you tell me it was like this?"  
  
"I thought you knew." He shrugged helplessly.  
  
"I didn't have the slightest clue." She returned her attention to Owen. "I have an idea."  
  
Owen saw those hazel eyes glow with a glow that he was beginning to know well. That particular tone of voice combined with that pupiless glimmer meant that Wren was hatching a plot that required his particular efforts. He nervously pushed his glasses up the bridge of his hawklike nose. "UH- what did you have in mind?"  
  
She whispered her idea enthusiastically in his ear.  
  
His eyebrows rose in sheer dumbfoundment. His eyes widened in disbelief at her suggestion. "Ms. Summers, surely you CAN'T be serious? I can't work any magic directly against Lord Oberon's wishes."  
  
"You did in my case." She countered slyly.  
  
"I am not allowed to mettle in HUMAN affairs." He pointed out carefully. "You are a special case because of your ....how shall I say this? Because of your genetic predisposition."  
  
"Could Alexander do it?" She pried. He rubbed his chin in contemplation of her question.   
  
"It is possible." He replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps, you could do it."  
  
"I'm not a sorceress. Leave Magick to those who can do it." She held up her hands to ward off his suggestion.  
  
"Wren..." A quiet growl rumbled in the air from Demetrius. "What are you planning, lass?"  
  
"I have an idea." She smirked. "Think of it as a parting gift to our hostess."  
  
"Fox?" He asked not quite understanding.   
  
"No." She whispered. "Elisa."  
  
"Let me make certain I understand exactly what you're asking for Ms. Summers...." Owen motioned for her to step closer. After a few minutes of hushed conversation, he stepped back and nodded in understanding. "You're right. I cannot intervene in human affairs. It said nothing about Gargoyle affairs. A play upon words is a clever solution."  
  
"With luck and heartmagick, can we make it happen?" She kept her tone neutral.  
  
"Oh, yes. It isn't a difficult incantation." Wren thought Owen suppressed a giggle. "I can't cast it, of course. However, with a bit of help and use of the Tome as a conduit for our combined strengths, anything is possible."  
  
"What is going on?" Goliath's tail lashed in anticipation. "What does this have to do with Elisa?"  
  
"Just watch and wait, brother." Demetrius gave him a knowing nod. "Wren is an excellent strategist."  
  
Demetrius discreetly took Goliath aside and explained Wren's plan to clan leader. He nodded in understanding but disapproved. "Without Elisa's consent, this is wrong."  
  
"I agree." Wren quickly nodded. "I've heard stories about how people are affected when misusing goddess magick. I have no desire to be the target of Skylaris' anger."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Elisa's brow furrowed with suspicion. "I want to know what's going on."  
  
Wren pulled Elisa away from the gathering and made clear her intentions. She watched the Detective shrink away from her as it became clear what Wren desired done this night. Elisa wrapped her arms around her as though she were chilled to the bone.  
  
"I don't think that's such a great idea, Wren." Her wariness made it clear just how much she disapproved of the young woman's brainstorm. "I like my mind just the way it is."  
  
Wren wanted to give Elisa a gift that only two other women held. "I just wanted you to have that rapport with Goliath and the clan that I just discovered. I know you told me during our breakfast how you didn't think it was possible to pursue a relationship with him."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"How can you be so different from a being who knows your heart and soul better than you do? How can you deny the love in his heart for you? To tell yourselves you can't love each other is a really cruel form of sadomasochism." Wren looked at her intently.   
  
"Elisa, where I come from, I can tell you the harsh cruelty and reality about differences. I'm not even considered 'human' by the majority of my own species. I've been hunted and almost killed because I'm a Mutant. Here, you have Goliath and he doesn't care one iota that you don't have a tail or wings. He sees the inner beauty of your heart and your unique loveliness." Wren gently shook Elisa. "Don't turn it away because you're afraid of what's new or different. I almost made that mistake and nearly spent the rest of my life paying for it. A wise goddess told me, 'take love in whatever form it comes to you.' Elisa, your Love's name is Goliath."  
  
Elisa said nothing when Wren voiced her innermost thoughts.  
  
"You've kissed him and already told him that you loved him. What's stopping you from taking that next step? Let me tell you, loving and losing ISN"T better than never loving at all. If you have a chance to find happiness with Goliath, TAKE IT!"  
  
The Tome of Tacitus appeared hovering in the air before the young Nightkind. Wren eagerly took it in her grasps and hurriedly flipped through the pages. She knew just the spell needed. She also knew that it wouldn't be there. She looked to Owen and her eyes glowed with the light of victory. "Start dictation."  
  
One brave of heart-human born  
Without psionic rapport of clan forlorn  
Let affinity between you and your chosen clan flow  
Let this now be a blessing for you to know.  
  
Owen's eyes gleamed a brilliant blue in the final rays of the setting sun. The Ostrich feather quill became surrounded in a faint azure aura. A faint halo of verdant light surrounded the tomb as Wren inscribed the words carefully upon the blank parchment within the book. She then dipped her index talon in the floating vial of black ink. Carefully, she made a flourishing script upon the page consisting of marks, scratches and flowing lines. Demetrius looked over her shoulder and gasped loudly when he realized them to be the glyphs of the ancient Gargoyle language.  
  
Wren smiled triumphantly as she watched to carefully written lines almost visibly imbed themselves upon the pages of the Tome. "Elisa Maza!"  
  
Elisa turned to see Wren holding the Tome and stare at her with eyes blazing. "Wren?"  
  
Wren spoke each word with a resolution that filled the air. The wind rose abruptly in the courtyard. Owen stood behind her with his hands covering hers. He looked over her shoulder as she read each word. Wren's tail made various motions in the air as each word was spoken. A bolt of brilliant amber hue bolted across the courtyard and struck Elisa Maza squarely in the forehead.   
  
She stumbled backwards a few steps. Goliath called out her name in alarm and rushed to her side. He caught her in his massive arms just as she fell to the ground. His eyes came alive with the brilliant fire of anger. His words bellowed so that they almost deafened those near him. "What have you done to Elisa, Wren?"  
  
"Wait." She closed the Tome and returned it to Owen. "This will work?"  
  
"Positive." He nodded in confirmation. Wren turned her attention again to Elisa. The amber bolt now became a golden veil showering the Detective in an echelon of Gargoyle and Elvin Magick. With a hint of luck and much empathy, it merged with the very essence know as Elisa Maza.  
  
"Wren, what have you done to Elisa?" Angela exclaimed in alarm. "Please, stop! You're hurting her."  
  
Elisa fell from Goliath's grasp to her hands and knees as the crown of light danced around her forehead. He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his. "If you have hurt her, Wren Summers-"  
  
"Wait, Goliath." Wren's words soothed him. "There was no intention to harm Elisa; just the opposite."  
  
Goliath brought one crooked talon beneath Elisa's chin and gently lifted her chin so that his lips were only inches from hers. She slowly opened eyes of midnight and found Goliath's onyx expression of concern staring down at her. He brought one large lavender hand carefully to her cheek and framed her face. A slow smile crept across Elisa's bronzed features and a Gargoyle's dark eyes widened in sudden understanding. The clan remained speechless as Goliath brought his lips to Elisa's.  
  
"Goliath?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. A new awakening shadowed her gaze.  
  
"Elisa?" His concern overflowed from his heart. "Are you hurt?"  
  
"No, Big Guy." Doe eyes met his. Recognition danced between them. "Not at all."  
  
He said nothing but brought his brow to hers in understanding. Surrendering to the unspoken feelings of love coursing between them, they opened their minds and hearts to one another that brought about a new connection for them. Elisa knew it for the first time. Goliath rejoiced in the unity. The clan embraced and celebrated the newest addition.  
  
Elisa rose to her feet and walked over to Wren. She saw that spark of something in the Detective's eyes that made her want to run and hide. Was it a look of determination or rage. They stood there for several seconds toe-to-toe with Elisa almost frightened of the petite woman standing before her.  
  
"You've given me a lot to think about." Elisa remembered to blink. "I've got a lot to get used to."  
  
"Love him deeply and truly, Elisa." Wren gave her friend a hug. "That is your way."  
  
Goliath glanced knowing at Demetrius. The tears flowed freely down the dark warrior's cheeks. Goliath's intent gaze met Elisa's soulful expression. She said nothing as she walked over to the lavender leviathan standing next to Demetrius. She welcomed the love of wings, the adoration of arms and the true protection of tail from Goliath.  
  
"Demetrius, I think we're done here." Wren wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "It's getting pretty heavy. Let's get out of here."  
  
"Agreed, Milady."  
  
They watched the clan congregate around the Gargoyle/ Human couple reveling in their new intimacy. It flowed between them and between the members of the clan. Owen looked over his shoulder to Demetrius and Wren and gave them a nod, a wave and a wink. They set the Tome Of Tacitus on a stone bench beside them and Owen nodded again in silent acknowledgement. He returned his attention to the dumbstruck couple alive and innocent in their new rapport.   
  
Demetrius offered Wren his arm and they walked to an isolated part of the courtyard. He looked down at his ladylove and brought her close to him. "The Tome is in good hands with this clan. They will value its contents and use it wisely in this new millennium."  
  
"I think they will. Do you think Elisa and Goliath will be happy?"  
  
"Only the Goddess knows." He looked upwards to the starry heavens. He pointed to a constellation that they knew well. "Even now, she watches over us."  
  
"Demetrius, do you have your paperwork?"  
  
"In my inside pocket of my kilt pouch."  
  
"Wallet?"  
  
"Aye, Love."  
  
"I'm going to miss them."  
  
"As will I, Milady." He pulled her to him with one wing. "Our clan awaits us."  
  
"Agreed." She cast one last glance at Goliath and Elisa. [Will they find love? Will they live happily ever after? Will Elisa be brave and just go ahead and love him?]  
  
[Thank you.] A feminine voice belonging to a special detective echoed inside in Wren's mind. That was all she needed to know.  
  
Wren pulled the annulus from her side and held it firmly in her grasp. She felt Demetrius' tail wrap tightly around her waist. He held her firmly to him. He cloaked her protectively in his dark velvet wings. "Cast the ritual, Milady Wren. Let us begone from this place."  
  
"Hang on." Wren pressed herself tightly against her ebony protector. She grasped the Annulus tightly. "Buckle your seat belt and enjoy the ride."  
  
"Advent of a shadow realm  
Cast by my hand this weapon made  
Unloose this Magick unbolt this gate  
To a reflective realm do lead the way.  
  
From the realm from whence we came  
Please return us to the same.  
Goddess keep up safe and sound  
Let us walk upon familiar ground."  
  
  
A mist of mint and saffron rose the cobblestones of the courtyard and swirled around the duo. The Annulus radiated brilliance akin to the glow of a Gargoyle's stare. A familiar brilliant column of golden light brightened and burned. Demetrius buried his head in Wren's dark hair to avoid blindness. The column descended from the heavens and engulfed them. The deafening clap of thunder rumbled throughout the courtyard as Demetrius and Wren vanished.  
  
"Goliath, where are Wren and Demetrius?" Angela panicked. "They're gone."  
  
"They've gone home, Daughter." His reassurance calmed her. "To their world and to their clan."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Concurrence: The psionic affinity amongst clan members to recognize each other through a combination of the six senses.  
  
Resonance: The psionic rapport between two mates.  
  
  



	3. A Wild and Merry Gargoyle Chase

Princess Ashanti 2.0  
Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
08/16/01  
  
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GARGOYLES. THEY BELONG TO DISNEY. I DO NOT OWN X-MEN. THEY BELONG TO MARVEL. PLEASE DO NOT SUE.  
  
[Bracketed words indicate thoughts/ psychic communication]  
  
Wren screamed loudly as the bounced along the topsy-turvy tunnel affectionately called the slipstream. The maelstrom of colors was a blur as the duo accelerated through the tunnel. Bolts of energy crackled like lightning as the made their way over the bumps of the space-time corridor.  
  
[I never get used to this.] She found enough sanity to form a cohesive thought as he bellowed and she shrieked. Wren wrapped her arms tightly around her mate as they flew through the slipstream. She knew enough to let her body go slack because impact would be rough on both of them. She hoped luck would be with them and let a bit of luckmagick preceded them in their landing.  
  
The charged environment of sonic noise ceased to torment her ears and jar her teeth. Instead, a warm breeze blew through her hair. She poked her head up from Demetrius' chest to see that he was quite disoriented from the giddiness caused by the tunnel. They were also falling at a rapid rate. She knew they were in trouble when they passed through a layer of clouds.  
  
"Come on, Demetrius!" She slapped his face. "Snap out of it. I don't have my pilot's license. You're the one with the wings."  
  
Demetrius' head drooped limply into her shoulder. Wren roughly grabbed hold of a large white tuff of hair and jerked back his head. He was unconscious. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. OH, SHIT!"  
  
Their rate of descent accelerated and Wren began saying a final prayer before she met her maker. She started that prayer with a scream.  
  
"Don't worry now, Lass.." A thick Scottish burr greeted her ears. "I've got ye."  
  
She felt their ascent suddenly stilled as an extra set of talons found their way underneath Demetrius' strong arms. She looked down to recognize that familiar tan. She picked up the scent of old leather on concrete. Only one gargoyle smelled that way and sounded like that.  
  
"Hudson!" Wren longed to burst free from her mate's winged embrace. "Oh, by the Dragon, thank God you showed up when you did."  
  
"We're home? Do you mean Caledon Isle, Atalanta, Veda, Adrienne, X-Men, Sentinels, the whole nine yards?" She barely contained her excitement. "Please tell it's true.  
  
"Aye, Lass. Ye vanished almost two weeks ago from your Linoma estate and ye had us scared out of our wits. Veda received a vision that we should fly high on patrol this night." She smiled as she saw the clan elder wink. He took a deep breath and gave her a sly smile. "Ye and Demetrius are mated, aren't ye?"  
  
"Officially, yes. It's a long story." She sighed happily. She noticed that his grip on Demetrius was beginning to slip."  
  
"Aye, Wren. It's good to hear yer voice." His warm reply gave her great comfort. "Now, let go and Atalanta will catch you. You're too heavy for me to carry ye both."  
  
"No way in HELL am I letting her get her talons into me." Wren exploded. "She drop me at the first opportunity."  
  
"Not that it wouldnae be my pleasure, Human." The familiar alto filled her ears.  
  
"You know, even your voice is a sweet sound for sore ears." The insult flowed from Wren before she could stop it.   
  
"Lassies, sheathe yer talons and work together." Hudson's chastisement reminded them of their location. "I can't carry the young sire for much longer and he has a rather nasty talon scratch on his shoulder."  
  
"Nor should you, Elder." Lavender eyes opened to meet Hudson's steady gaze. "Methinks the slipstream hexed with its wily turns."  
  
"Aye, Lad. Ye have a rather large goose egg growin' on yer head."   
  
"Wren? Where is Wren?" Demetrius spread his wings and quickly glanced around as he took an updraft in mid-flight.  
  
"She is well and in your arms, lad." The elder assured the young warrior. "Ye need not worry. The lass won't harm your mate."  
  
"It's not Wren, I'm worried about." The dark warrior pointed upwards to the heavy crimson moon. "I know that moon well."  
  
"Aye, Lad. 'Tis a Breeder's Moon. Many of the unbonded males and females will be flying high tonight. It's good ye came home."  
  
"It's good to be here, My Elder." The warmth of Demetrius' words touched Hudson's heart.  
  
"I'm just glad to be back in our own dimension." Wren regretted letting her fear getting the better of her. She knew her talons slashed those marks upon his skin. She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Can you get us to land?"  
  
"Nay, Milady. Vertigo assaults me." Dizziness was a common symptom that plagued Demetrius when they emerged from the slipstream. "Go with Atalanta. No harm will befall her."  
  
"I think you'd do better to worry about her." Wren Nightkind let loose her hold. "On my mark, Atalanta."  
  
"Donnae be tellin' me what to do, human. I can catch you. I'll also catch some horrible disease knowing my luck."  
  
Wren literally bit her tongue so that another barbed comment didn't escape her lips. She smacked her lips in the sweet anticipation of unloading her surprise and the unsuspecting Gargoyle. Now, she knew she was on better ground to deal with the venomous vixen that held such an obvious prejudice for humans.  
  
She watched Hudson and Demetrius land nearby in the courtyard of Castle Ex Cathedra of Caledon Isle. She turned to look into the bright blue eyes of the golden Gargoyle carrying her. She suddenly felt herself no longer being held and falling through the air. Wren felt her backside impact heartily with the stone beneath her. She yelped in pain with the impact. Atalanta smirked as she landed gracefully beside her.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I lost my grasp." There was no missing that sneer.  
  
"Bullshit." The response came through gritted teeth.  
  
"Temper, vermin. Rabid animals are often killed for hostile displays." The unmistakable warning left nothing to the imagination. "Accidents can happen."  
  
Wren stood there stunned. She knew that Atalanta held a grudge against humans. She never knew that it extended to cheerfully threatening to commit murder. Wren said nothing but growled at the golden Gargoyle. She knew her eyes blazed with a vermilion flame usually reserved for Gargoyle dames. She heard that gasp of surprise. She almost gloated when she noticed Atalanta's jaw drop about three inches.  
  
"You're right." The mid-September moon illuminated the dark expression on Wren's face. "I'm just enough of a Mutant to alter luck. You could fall down and break your neck with a snap of my fingers."  
  
"You wouldn't dare. Ye haven't the backbone."  
  
"You don't have the true Gargoyle fortitude to find out." She longed to sink five talons into the soft flesh of the Dame's throat. "I've had just about enough of your snide remarks and veiled threats. Leave me and my mate alone. Don't come near us. Don't talk to us. Let's let bygones remain that way and be civil to each other."  
  
"Mate?" The word hung in the air.  
  
"Yes, Demetrius and I are mates." Wren said with more bravado than she felt.  
  
[Wren one, Atalanta zero.] The young Nightkind walked over to check upon her mate's condition. She pushed aside any further thoughts of Atalanta as she rushed to Demetrius' side. "Dem, are you all right?"  
  
"My shoulder will heal, Milady." He replied softly. He gazed at the smoldering Dame standing only a few yards away. "Atalanta is pensive this night."  
  
"That's an understatement." She snorted.  
  
"What words passed between you and she, Wren?" Concern laid heavily in his question.  
  
"Oh, she only threatened to drop me and then kill me." The young woman dusted the gravel from her blouse. "I'm not too worried about it. Just let it go, Demetrius."  
  
"She WHAT???" Lavender eyes blazed in blinding fury. "How dare she?"  
  
"Don't worry about it. She'll get over it." She attempted to soothe the savage protector with unfurled wings. He roared in pain as aggravated the wounds in his shoulder. She saw that the wounds were fresh and deep from her fear she felt during the fall. "We need to get you to the infirmary. It's probably long way until morning if the warriors are still out on patrol."  
  
Wren fought to push aside the horrible green monster taunting her to forget her good manners and her conscience. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to be the damned golden goose strongly in the chops and give her a black eye. [Wouldn't be worth it, she'd be healed by tomorrow night. Damn.]  
  
Wren rarely felt the influences of pettiness and revenge. This particular night, the urges pulled at her as the moon did the tide. [Oh, what the hell, I might as well have a little fun. After all, I might only get one chance.]  
  
Wren giggled softly. She pressed herself seductively close to the sculpted contours of Demetrius' physique and seductively nipped his neck. He purred in pure masculine need. His voice came out somewhere between a groan and a rumble. "Wren...."  
  
"Kiss me, Demetrius, as a Sire kisses his mate." Her eyes became dark with latent desire.  
  
"Sires...don't kiss mates... Wren." His breathing became heavy and labored with the sudden onslaught of desire caused by their kiss. She didn't have to ask him twice.  
  
"Has that ever stopped you?" She pulled his head to hers. She nibbled tenderly at his earlobe.  
  
"By the Dragon, no!" He brought his lips down upon hers. He marked her as his mate with scent and kiss. Tongues mated with one another in an erotic dance of something much more passionate. The taste of cinnamon mingled with peaches for a sweet elixir that brought them both to the brink of complete abandon. Wren branded Demetrius as her Sire with gentle nips of his lips. She snaked her tail possessively around his calf and let it travel languidly upwards. It slipped beneath his loincloth and she twitched it playfully for all to see.  
  
A loud, shrill snarl filled the early autumn air. Wren looked out the corner of her eye to see one very outraged, infuriated golden gargoyle. She saw the crimson flames burning in those eyes. She noticed the unfurled wings expanded to their impressive length. Wren's lips curled into a sly smirk of satisfaction when she knew her sneak attack struck home.  
  
"Demetrius!" The scream rang in the night.  
  
Demetrius was pulled abruptly from his passionate reverie by Atalanta's piercing cry. He saw the flood of tears streaming down her elegant golden cheeks. His eyes blazed with a Dame's wrath. He loosened his hold on his mate and turned toward his old friend.  
  
"How could ye, Demetrius?" She managed to speak when she gathered some of her composure. "Ye knew I loved ye since we were both hatchlings. Ye promised me that we'd fly together on the next mating moon. We would have two were it not for the damned Vikings murdering us whilst we slept. How could ye contaminate yourself by mating with one who murdered us? And now, you lick some human and drink her juices like some animal! How can ye?"  
  
"Atalanta!" The stern reply quieted her sobs. Demetrius closed his eyes and clasped his fists to his sides. He breathed deeply to calm himself. How females vexed him thus! He fought to bring gentleness to his voice. "Atalanta, that was a long time ago.... another time and another place. Our betrothal ended at our deaths. We were both free to find other mates."  
  
"You declared that you wished to be MY mate." The words sliced through Wren. The guilt caved in and buried any feelings of vengeance. She almost felt the Dame's pain as her own. "You told me that you cared about me and wanted to be with me. Ye told me that ye adored me. "  
  
Wren's brows raised in utter amazement at the turn in events. [Demetrius told me that he'd never had a mate.]  
  
"I have always adored you as my rookery sister. You have always been dear to my heart, Atalanta. Now, we are free to choose whom we wish. We never sanctified that promise before the clan. We never consummated those vows." His words brought Wren relief. "We were released at death from those promises made in our youth."  
  
"I waited a thousand years for you." Wren heard each shard being chipped away from Atalanta's breaking heart. "Now, you've paired with a HUMAN!! That is betrayal to me and to the clan. Her kind killed us. Now, you reek of her stench and she bears your mark. She beguiled you with her wiles and her human magic. She isn't worthy. She turn on ye when it suits her and she'll bed any man who sniffs at her skirts."  
  
"Be careful with your words." The menacing tone caused shivers to dance along Wren's spine. Rarely did Demetrius assert his pure male prowess as he did at that moment. With ferocity she didn't know he possessed, he growled and wrapped his wings about Wren. "It is the love of a human that allowed me peace after a thousand years of unrest in the Shadowlands. It was the love of a human that allowed me to regain faith in my clan and my goddess. It was this human that showed me that the many should not be judged for the sins of a few dead Vikings."  
  
Demetrius took Wren gently by the arm and led her away from the scene. Hudson looked struck be the entire exchange. The dark warrior glanced over his shoulder at the defeated Dame standing behind him with her broken heart in her hands. "You would do well to take that lesson to heart. I wish you well, Atalanta."  
  
As they walked, none of the trio spoke. Hudson kept his counsel and Demetrius' grim expression prompted Wren to remain silent. They entered the castle and looked around for their clan leader. Wren glanced at her mate and she wanted answers, but his veiled gaze seemed to say 'NOT NOW.'  
  
"Demetrius!" A voice called merrily from behind them. They turned to see a vision of alabaster skin and charcoal curls greet them. A little girl was cradled fast asleep in the woman's arms. Wren noticed the little girl had sable hair and ten perfect talons resting easily on the woman's shoulder. "You and Wren are back!"  
  
"Adrienne!" He looked down at Wren silently asking her blessing to greet their friend. She nodded gladly and watched as the dark warrior strode towards the young woman. He slowed his approach and gazed lovingly down at the little girl resting in her arms. "It is good to see you. Is this Greer?"  
  
"Oh, yes. " She planted a brief kiss against the dark sable tresses. "She and Shani were playing tag on the grounds."  
  
"Your wee lass is tired so soon?" He asked in amazement. "She has grown like Scottish Heather in summer."  
  
"She's young and her human blood allows her to be easily fatigued compared to her rookery siblings." Adrienne carefully shifted her wait so that Greer rested more comfortably on her hip. She motioned to the young woman standing silently behind the ebony Gargoyle. "Wren, let me take a look at you. It's been awhile."  
  
Wren stepped closer into the light. The cap she wore hid the horns and the pointed ears. She pulled her tail closely behind her. She somehow felt like a freak for not being as she was when she left the island. Adrienne deeply inhaled and giggled. She cocked her head to the side and gave her a big smile. "Congratulations. You've picked a good Gargoyle."  
  
"You know!?" Wren asked.  
  
"I can tell." Adrienne swayed back and forth to steady the weight of her daughter on her hip. Greer stirred and whimpered. Her mother whispered soothing words into her ear. "You seem truly happy. You're practically glowing."  
  
"I thought it was just because we passed a plutonium plant on the way here." She quipped.  
  
"I know that smile anywhere. You are a woman loved by a Gargoyle. There's nothing else like it." Her daughter stirred again. Onyx eyes slowly opened to stair innocently at the couple in front of her. "I need to get Greer to bed. I think Shani tuckered her out."  
  
"Where is Goliath?"  
  
"He is out on patrol." Adrienne rocked the drowsy little girl into slumber.   
  
"I thought you went back to New York." Wren voiced her surprise.  
  
"Goliath and the others loved being with the clan too much to be parted with them for long." She shook her head in joyful exasperation. "I feel like Persephone. We now spend half the year in New York. Hudson, Goliath, Angela and the trio want to spend the other half here. Clan majority rules. So, we're here until October. Then, we'll go back to New York."  
  
"Clan life keeps you busy."  
  
"It does." Adrienne leaned her head a little closer to Wren. "I know why you left and I know this isn't any of my business. It's just that I know Goliath and I appreciated your expertise and presence here on the island. I think even Owen would be a bit less anal-retentive if you returned. We could use you and Demetrius here on Caledon."  
  
"Well, we just returned and we just thought we'd visit." Wren successfully dodged the broad hint Adrienne sent her way. She looked at Demetrius. "We thought we'd be home in Linoma Bluffs. Neither one of us expected to land on Caledon Isle."  
  
"Indeed." That dark resounding voice rumbled through the stone corridor. Wren turned to see the imposing figure of a lavender Gargoyle. His wings were regally cloaked about him. He made his way to the svelte woman and young girl standing beside them. "Here, My Raven, allow me."  
  
"Thank you! She was getting heavy."  
  
Wren looked at the dark-eyed lady that so captivated Goliath Wyvern. Her skin was olive but not the dark bronze of another woman she'd recently come to know. Her hair fell in ringlets about her shoulders in a shade of charcoal. It was not the elegant straight jet tresses of a certain detective. [She certainly isn't Elisa Maza. But that is a different time, a different world and a different place.]  
  
"Papa..." A Tiny voice wailed softly into the large leviathan's shoulder. Wren watched fascinated as a gigantic taloned hand gently stroked those straight sable tresses of his daughter.   
  
"Sleep now, Poppet." His low, deep voice seemed to entrance the little girl within seconds of hearing it. Quickly her head rested against his shoulder and she snuggled into the warmth of his wing. He walked beside the dark warrior and his mate in the stone corridor. "It is good to have you home, brother. Wren, welcome home."  
  
"We are glad to be here." Demetrius replied. "We've had some harrowing adventures because of a certain relic in my mate's possession."  
  
"Aye, the Annulus has a way of taking you where you need to be. Anything from Avalon is that way. Don't take any skiff rides." He nodded gravely. His eyes misted over mysterious and a faraway look glazed his features. "Are you home to stay?"  
  
"I think not-" Demetrius began.  
  
"We're considering it." Wren replied at the same time. Demetrius looked at her with a raised ridge-brow. She stared at him intently. His dark, grim features lit up in a brilliant smile. She heard the intake of his breath.  
  
[Milady?] He questioned her.  
  
[This is your home. Now, it's mine. I won't keep you away from your clan for too long. That isn't the Gargoyle way.]  
  
[I understand not. I thought Linoma Bluffs was our home.] His mental reply carried astonishment at this recent turn of event.  
  
[So did I. I didn't realize just how much the bond between clan mates contributed to your well-being. To take you away from your clan is almost committing blasphemy.]  
  
[Wren, what of Summerlands? Your job at Xanatos?]  
  
[Can't we do both? I have a laptop, a fax machine, and a digital phone. With the Internet, I can work from any location in the world. Besides, don't we want to touch base with clan and family?]  
  
[And find peace with Atalanta?]  
  
[DON'T PUSH IT!!]  
  
The rest of the night was spent catching up on recent events. She knew that if felt natural and right to be back in Castle Ex Cathedra. She longed for her old office and her old bedchamber. Wren decided that she would gladly give her tail simply to be on the Xanatos payroll on Caledon Isle. She also knew that Xanatos made it a policy not to rehire employees who quit. [Then again, he might make an exception.]  
  
*******  
  
Morning came too quickly for all. Melancholy settled upon Demetrius when he watched his rookery brothers and sisters take their places along the parapets of Cair Ex Cathedra. He missed facing the East to greet the day as he fell into slumber. They watched as each majestic Gargoyle assumed a ferocious pose and became Scottish granite.  
  
Sad eyes found a dark amethyst gaze as he stared into the beauty of the North Sea surrounding Caledon Isle. Wren looked up and knew that he felt isolation in not being able to join his clan in stone slumber. His heart weighed heavily with the harsh words exchanged between he and his rookery sister, Atalanta. He walked away from Wren and strode toward the statue of the Gargoyle Dame holding her mace high in the air. With wings unfurled and hair blowing in the breeze, she looked like Lady Liberty ready for battle.  
  
"Do you know that we are on the eve of a Breeder's Moon?" He spoke into the morning air.  
  
"I thought that wasn't here for another five years." Wren blinked and remembered to breathe.   
  
"Veda miscalculated because of the thousand year purgatory. She did not account for the leap years." His words remained carefully neutral. "The Dames are readying themselves for coupling. Some unbonded males are preparing dens. Mated pairs become anxious for breeding. Warriors ready themselves for battle to select the finest mates. The skies will be lively with the mating flights this night."  
  
"And this makes you sad?" Wren dared to voice her unspoken thoughts. She didn't want to look into his eyes at that particular moment. "Are you wishing to mate with Atalanta?"  
  
"NO!" He bellowed and turned about. Wren thought she saw his human eyes blaze with Gargoyle fury. "I now understand why you and Atalanta were challenging one another."  
  
"Care to clue me in on it? I'm at a loss." Wren grew weary of his sympathy for the golden babe with the muscle-man arms.  
  
"Your scent and her scent tell me that you are ready to breed."  
  
"Demetrius, I'm not a Gargoyle." She began to remind him.  
  
"We are of one heart, one mind, and one body, Milady." He wrapped his wings about her. Her fear was a thousand prines barring any into her innermost mind. No amount of heartmagick allowed him past her mental barriers. "I am of human blood as you are of Gargoyle. Now, that we are of the other, we assume many traits not always akin to what we know. Do you not the feel the rising zeal for freedom demand satisfaction?"  
  
Was that the tenseness and the anticipation tingeing her thoughts these past few moments. It made sense and it explained her unusually dynamic mindset on this particular evening. Wren cursed all the unseen complications of their recent transformations. The aloofness gradually parted so that apprehension peaked through and touch Demetrius' quick and agile mind. He knew her question before she spoke aloud.  
  
"Nay, Milady I think not. You will not lay an egg." Demetrius kept his gaze fixed on Atalanta's stone form. "You responded to her challenge with all the ferocity of a Dame. She noticed your scent and our mating marks on one another. She will challenge you."  
  
"She hasn't the right." Wren spat. "You and I are committed to one another."  
  
"It is the Gargoyle way." Demetrius pressed his lips into her russet mane. He inhaled Wren's scent of peaches, melon, and kiwi. "She does not recognize you as clan and she will not relent."  
  
"That's all well and good, Demetrius." Wren's anger laced her words. "But, we've already decided that you and I will forge our way. I'm not going to get into a catfight because some female has a jealous fit over you."  
  
"I am not asking you to enter combat with her." His dark features were shadowed in the silhouette cast by the statue. "I am asking you to engage in a chase with me."  
  
"What?" She shook her head. He had her absolutely befuddled. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Milady, without wings you cannot fly." Demetrius turned to face her. "I wish not to let this Breeder's Moon go by on the night of the Autumn Equinox. I wish to give chase."  
  
"Mating flight is where Gargoyles fly and chase each other in the air and then Mid-air Mamba?" She asked carefully.  
  
"Crudely put, but yes." He didn't care for the not-so-subtle changes in Wren's usually gentle and proper demeanor. As of late, she had been confrontational and temperamental. Aggression was not a normal trait of his Ladylove. Demetrius attributed the harsh change in her personality to the oncoming night of the Breeder's Moon. "I wish to share this night with you, Wren. I spoke of it with Goliath in the previous dimension and also here. I long to give chase to you as one would in flight."  
  
"Oh." She felt like the heartless criminal that stole candy from a small toddler. "Demetrius, don't take this the wrong way, but, it's too soon for me. I need time to assimilate everything that's happened to us."  
  
"Milady Wren," Demetrius bent down and knelt on one denim-clad knee. "Would thou honor me with a merry chase on the night of the Breeder's Moon? I shall have another den awaiting us. I have proven myself a worthy lover and provider. Allow me to prove myself worthy as a mate and as a member of my clan by giving you an egg. My love for you prompts me to love you fiercely and well. May our love bring the sweet knowing of a hatchling into this world and into our clan?"  
  
What did she say to such a sincere declaration? She knew that these were the formal words of an ancient ritual dating back thousands of years. The automatic barriers shot upwards instantly blocking him access to her most private thoughts. [I'm not ready for a child or an egg. I want more time to think about this. We're not married. We're not financially stable. We haven't even been together a year. I want to learn more about this new body before I commit myself to an egg or a child. How do I tell him that I'm not ready?]  
  
Her silence told Demetrius everything that he needed to know. His eyes fell to the ground. If he had wings during the day, Wren would have sworn they were drooping. "You wish not to allow our love to bring forth a hatchling; a little one?"  
  
"[Think, Summers, think!] She hoped her gift of words didn't choose that moment to fail her. She sought perfect words to put together her thoughts and feelings on the matter.  
  
"You are worthy as a mate and too your clan. However, I am not ready to have a child. I want to know you longer and love you for a while. I want to acclimate myself to our situation and to this new body of mine. Please don't be hurt that I just want to wait."  
  
Silence.  
  
No words were spoken.  
  
The awkwardness hung between them as a thick veil concealing them from each other.  
  
[I don't want to lose you but it's too soon. Please try and understand.]  
  
She felt her mate's disappointment chill her like a frigid wind in winter. His sadness avalanched over her. Rejection cracked his granite heart. Anguish spread through him and touched her mind. The chasm widened into a canyon. Tears pricked at her eyes. "I want to honor the custom. I'm just not ready to have a child."  
  
He framed her face in his large talons. Tenderly his lips descended to hers. His sorrow lessened with that kiss of cherished adoration. Wren trembled at the possibility that they would break apart if she didn't give him a hatchling.  
  
"We have a lifetime for children, Milady." His waxen grin echoed his dejection at her words. "Yet, it is a prudent course for us being still new to one another."  
  
"You're not angry?"  
  
"Nay, Milady. I had only wished to be with you this night."  
  
"Couldn't we practice for the real thing?" Her brightness tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Would it be impossible to make a merry chase and just take precautions not to get me with child?"  
  
"You still wish to participate?" Two unshed tears disappeared as happiness overtook the ebony warrior. "Would you give me a merry mating match?"  
  
"I'll make it a night you won't forget." She promised with two fingers pressed against his lips. "Do I get a head start?"  
  
"You have fifteen minutes." His eyes glowed with the rumble that resounded deep from his throat.  
  
"Just watch me!" Wren impulsively stuck out her tongue and dashed into the castle.  
*******  
  
Wren knew that every moment meant one percent of one hundred that she had a chance of evading Demetrius. He was a born predator with keen senses. His night sight was far superior. His sense of smell was as keen as any wolf or tiger in the wild. His instincts for the hunt were stronger and purer; unfettered by the trappings of civilization and society. He possessed superior strength, speed, and agility.   
  
[Gargoyles protect. Gargoyles also find the scent, take to the hunt, and capture the prey; pure and simple.]  
  
Wren knew possessing recently acquired Gargoyle traits didn't mean automatic victory against her pursuer.  
  
[Linear thinking is the way he works. Creativity is often learned but seldom initiated.] Wren made her way inside the castle door and bolted it shut. [How do I outrun a male born to hunt?]  
  
[I outfox them. Humanity is adaptable and creative. Let's put that mercurial and playful nature to work. It won't be a straight line.] The light of inspiration brightened her mind with a plethora of ideas.  
  
Wren knew he depended upon scent to find her. She knew that the kitchen was on the floor only a few yards from where she stood. She dashed madly to Broadway's inner sanctum.  
She looked for a second exit. She thanked the Powers-That-Be that Cair Ex Cathedra had doors that opened and closed in every room.   
  
[It's the ONLY way in and out. Oh-oh.] Wren's thoughts sped through her mind as she considered her options.  
  
She went quickly from cupboard to cupboard rummaging wildly for the spices. A broad smile crossed her features when she found exactly what she sought: the spice cupboard. She noticed two large pepper mills standing proudly in the cupboard. She grabbed one and looped it inside of her leather belt. She took the other and began to grind the pepper within it. She spread a thick layer over the expanse of the stone kitchen floor.   
  
She noticed an open cupboard with a rope at the end of the kitchen.  
  
[What have we here?] She made her way over to it. [Oh, please! Let it be what I think it is.]  
  
She noticed the rope was new and looped over a pulley. She saw that right above her a platform dangled. She excitedly pulled on the rope and the platform descended. She let forth a whoop of delight that gave her plan new life. [Thank God for dumbwaiters.]  
  
Wren worked to cramp herself into the small space of the cupboard. She pulled the doors shut and maneuvered and pulled herself upwards to the next floor. Arm over arm, Wren strained to move the wait of her and the platform. The roughness of the rope cut into her hands. The burning in her muscles informed her that she strained herself beyond her normal capabilities.  
  
[The Things I do for love.] The wry thought brought a chuckle into her throat. [Seven months ago, I sat in a cushy office in New York researching blood spells for Owen. Now, I stuck in a musty dumbwaiter in the North Sea trying to outrun a Gargoyle. I think I need a shrink.]  
  
She felt a catch of the platform. She cocked her head and saw a lit of light shining into the dark shaft. With a solid push, the slats gave way to reveal a lavish bedchamber adorned in violet scarves and scented candles. Wren inhaled deeply and took in the combined aromas of incense, roses, and musk.  
  
She smelled Goliath's scent. She caught a faint echo of Adrienne's favorite perfume.   
  
[What a way to throw Dem off the scent.]  
  
She peeked cautiously into the room and found it empty. She made her way across the chamber to the open window. She looked outwards and saw that she was two stories from the ground.  
  
[Wrong direction. It's time to change.] She saw Demetrius looking at the full crimson moon hovering in the sky above them. She noticed that he took to all fours and sniffed the ground. She knew the fifteen minutes were over. [Time to go down.]  
  
She waited until she saw him enter the castle. Wren quickly discarded her socks and shoes and stuffed them neatly under the end of Adrienne and Goliath's bed. She looked down at her feet and saw ten short talons where toes usually resided. She took the pepper mill and dusted her shoes with the spice.  
  
She went to the sill of the window and climbed atop it. [I HATE heights.]  
  
Carefully, she tested her theory. She curved her fingers in a crooked fashion. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, prayed for endorphins to start working and slammed her talons into the side of the sill. She heard the crunch of stone beneath her talons. Cautiously, she opened one eye. There was no pain of impacting her hand upon solid stone. She opened the other eye and found five sleek talons embedded to the second knuckle in hard castle rock.  
  
[Oooh, this new form has its advantages. If Gargoyles can climb up stone walls, why can't they climb down as if they were going down a ladder?]  
  
She kept her eyes planted firmly on the outside wall. She reached out as far as her arm allowed and embedded her right hand deeply within the granite. She reached around the sill and slowly did the same with her right foot. She followed suit with her left hand and finally her left foot. She never took her eyes from the stone.   
  
Foot by foot, Wren pulled alternate limbs from the rock and attempted her descent down the wall. She made it halfway before loose mortar made her loose her foothold. She heard the rolling of loose mortar fall to the ground. Then, the stone gave way. Wren felt cool air soar past her at a rapid rate. Her backside took the brunt of the impact when the ground rose to greet her.  
  
[Okay in theory and not great in application. It can be perfected with technique.] She made a mental note to take a few classes in rock climbing at her first opportunity.  
  
Wren knew that Demetrius wouldn't be fooled for long by pepper. She ran wildly around the perimeter of the castle until she reached the main entrance. She sprinted across the courtyard and returned to the same door she had been through only moments before the chase began. She again entered that same corridor.  
  
[Too bad the hunter can't become the prey.] She lamented. A sharp pain in her side let Wren knew that she was definitely not in peak physical condition. [Where do I take it from here?]  
  
"How do I catch a Gargoyle?" She asked aloud.  
  
Wren knew that the only place strong enough to hold a Gargoyle was a dungeon. Xanatos had restored the castle at the end of the previous year. She knew he equipped the dungeon with several force-field holding cells and converted it to a cargo bay. An evil thought entered her quick mind.  
  
[Find a really good mousetrap.]  
  
She skulked in the shadows until she came to a door that led to her desired location. Wren opened it and made her way down the long, winding stone staircase to the lower levels of the dungeon. She noted that it was easier for her to see at night. The hall was pitch dark; yet, she made out the faint silhouette of the stairs. With growing speed she skipped down the crumbling stone stairs scattering rock as she went.  
  
At the bottom she felt for a light switch. The light illuminated the entire main core of the dungeon. Wren saw four holding cells full of supplies and packing crates. She also noticed one was empty. She walked forward and saw a control panel. She acted on a whim and punched in her security code. The force field activated as a thin blue veil of energy from floor to ceiling.  
  
"Oh, yeah!" She whispered feeling triumph. "Now, let's turn the tables on make this chase a bit more to my liking."  
  
She removed her jacket and placed it within the holding cell. She placed a couple of light crates in front of it so that only the sleeve remained insight. She took some of the packing cushion material and stuffed the arm to give it fullness. She tucked it in upon itself so that a lack of a hand wasn't obvious.  
  
Now, she waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
And Waited.  
  
A half an hour later passed according to the clock on the wall. She heard a scuffle at the end of the stairs. She nervously crouched behind some piled crates and remained still in the shadows. She heard the gentle padding of feet making their way into the main core of the dungeon/ cargo bay. The light shown brightly and Demetrius entered her view in all his masculine predatory glory.  
  
He kneeled close to the ground and sniffed. She watched him stalk her former path to the empty holding cell. She knew he saw her jacket when his tail flicked in satisfaction. His wings flared slightly. Wren knew in Gargoyle body language that such an action meant surprise.  
  
"Wren! Wren? Are you well?" He rushed forward to the pile of crates. Wren saw that from his vantage point that it looked as though she were buried beneath them. There was no turning back now. Wren stole the opportunity to rush to the control panel and activate the force field.  
  
The hum of energy filled the room and he turned to see Wren standing there with a very satisfied look upon her face. He cloaked his wings and walked forward until only the thin blue veil of energy separated them. He tentatively tapped the field with a talon and drew it back. The shock from the energy barrier was enough to make him think twice before breaching it.  
  
"Milady, what mischief is this?" His brow furrowed in dismay.  
  
"The Hunter has now become the captured." Wren walked the length of the holding cell and surveyed her handiwork. "I decided that I wanted to turn the tables."  
  
"Turn the tables? I do not understand this strange turn-of-phrase." He cocked his head. His eyes formed the silent question 'why.'  
  
"I wanted to see if the hunter could become the hunted. I wanted to know if human ingenuity could stand against pure Gargoyle ability. You wanted a merry chase and I gave you one. Little did you know that you would be caught in your own hunt."  
  
"Now, what will you do with me?" He asked. Demetrius smiled at this wily, cunning siren standing only inches from him.  
  
"I'm going to have my way with you."  
  
The energy wall went down and she stepped into the cell.  
  
*********  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Reflective Realms (This Ain't Kansas, To...

Princess Ashanti 3.0   
Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
08/21/01  
  
DISCLAIMER: GARGOYLES DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY BELONG TO DISNEY. ALL ORIGINAL CHARACTERS ARE PROPERTY OF DENIGODDESS2001. NO INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.   
  
Not so long in a reflective realm very unlike our own, two individuals found themselves in a kingdom where eternal darkness fell over the land. An evil war mage held the dominion hostage in endless night and it's monarch in a deep, unending slumber. From the Temple of Skylaris, it was prophesied that the Dragon Goddess's Sojourner and Champion would walk upon the face of the Realm. They would solve the ancient riddle and reawaken the quiescent Princess Ashanti.  
  
They were in the dominion of Ainran for many days, yet their travels seemed to be no more than a night in their world. Demetrius and Wren knew it wasn't the last time the Annulus of Avalon needed their aid in putting things right in realms gone wrong.  
  
All this had happened in the early spring. The leaves upon Caledon Isle were no longer vibrant and green with the promise of a new season. The leaves upon the branches covered the expanse of the island in a vivid mosaic of scarlet, vermilion, cadmium, gold, and amber. The warm summer breezes came now as the cool breezes of early autumn. Long had had it been since Demetrius and Wren had joined the other Gargoyles before the bonfire and sipped mead and ate roasted venison.  
  
Wren reveled in a return to a world she thought lost to her. Never in all her hopes did she dare pray for a homecoming to those halcyon days of innocence. Now, Destiny blessed her with a beloved mate and a group of beings that were like family and much closer: they were clan. Nothing in the world felt as good as the warm suede cloak of her mate's wings cloaked about her to stay the chill from her bones.  
  
"It's not right that cold or heat doesn't get to you." She gingerly sipped her mead. "You have better sight, better agility, and better strength."  
  
"We cannot see the sun, Milady nor we have a human's imagination. You think in your own way and we Gargoyles can merely acclimatize and emulate. We can create such marvels without a template." He leaned forward and rested his chin playfully upon her head. "I envy your lively, inspired nature, Wren. You know the feeling of simply thinking of something new and making it reality. I am only able to use what I have."  
  
"Then we compliment each other." She replied warmly. She looked into the distance at Atalanta. She saw that the Golden blacksmith sat alone and apart from the clan. "She loved you, Demetrius. Is there nothing that can be done for her?"  
  
"Barely Time can mend her heart. There is no other way for her healing to finish its course." Demetrius embraced Wren just a bit tighter. He pulled to the side to look into the hazel eyes of his ladylove. "You wish peace for her?"  
  
"I do." Was the sincere reply. "I know what it's like to have no love in a life and to be truly alone. Humans and Gargoyles are both social animals that work best within groups. To be without a boyfriend or loved one is bad. To be without friends, family, or clan is worse. Why won't someone reach out to her and take her under their wing?"  
  
"You speak like a Gargoyle." He planted a kiss on his Wren's cheek.  
  
"Taking someone under wing is a HUMAN phrase." She jabbed him playfully in the ribs.   
"Oooffff." His breath was knocked from him. His pride still stung from being outwitted by his human mate. Genetically they were the same now because of an alternate dimension and that dimension's Owen.  
  
[It's so confusing. The Owen of that universe wasn't held by Oberon's restriction. There, Elisa Maza was alive. The Gargoyles found some peace and acceptance. In this universe, Quarrymen have hunted Gargoyles to the edge of extinctions. Mutants like myself are hated and misunderstood. Elisa Maza is dead and a Kiari fairy is Goliath's mate. It's so much to internalize.]  
  
"My Love, let us call this place a name that will easily reference our world." Wren felt Demetrius' large hands gently turn her to face him. She never grew accustomed to him knowing and hearing every thought and feeling that went through her mind. "Let us call our world Terra Prime."  
  
"Doesn't sound very original." She mused.  
  
"I watched the Sci-Fi chancel recently." He brushed a stray tendril of chestnut hair from her eyes. "It may not be original, but it is an apt description. Any other place is an A.D."  
  
"A.D.?" She raised one brow.  
  
"Alternate dimension." He explained. He took the stick beside him and poked at the glowing embers of the fire. The flames leapt to life as he tended the dying bonfire.  
  
"I don't think I'll be doing any traveling anytime soon." Wren leaned back between his sleek, muscular thighs. She cheerfully took another sip of her sweet mead. "I locked the Annulus away in my room. There's no way we're going anywhere unless I recite that incantation."  
  
"Wellmet!" A voice called to them on the edge of the darkness. A tall, broad figure strode into the light. Wren jumped to her feet and away from her mate's strong embrace. She rushed forward and nearly tackled the form with a bear hug rivaling the strength of Hercules.  
  
"KIRN!" Her cheerful greeting nearly knocked the wind from his lungs. His look of startled astonishment amused the ebony Gargoyle behind them. "It's good to see you."  
  
"Aye, Sojourner, as it is you." He replied carefully. Looking for silent permission, he cast his gaze to the Sire sitting near the fire. Demetrius gave a slow nod of his head. Kirn immediately wrapped his arms around the diminutive human and returned her friendly hold. "It has been too long since I have seen you last."  
  
"What is going on with you these days?' Wren motioned to a spot beside her and Demetrius. "Join us and tell us how you like life her on the Isle. Have some mead."  
  
"Thank you, Lady Wren." He made himself comfortable upon the soft, cushy grass. He took the wineskin that Demetrius offered him and drank heartily of the mead. "Kellen makes good mead."  
  
"Agreed. That Gargoyle has a way with anything alcoholic." Wren agreed. "How do you like life here?"  
  
"Well, Lady Wren, it is much to my liking." He enthusiastically took another mouthful of drink. "The soil is good to me. I raise sheep on the Southern part of the isle. I grow good barley that Kellen turns into fine ale and beer. I've planted some apple trees on the northern portion of my farm. The air is fresh and the sun is bright."  
  
He gazed outward to the sea. It's dark waters reflected the brightness of the moon above them. The late September chill had little effect upon him. He capped the wineskin and set it beside him. His dark brown eyes lingered upon the still waters. "Goddess Skylaris has always watched over my people as she has yours. Yet, I miss the violet mountains of Ainran. I miss the forests. I miss the dryads, naiads, centaurs and dwarves. I miss dancing with the satyrs under the light of the moon. I miss my sons. I miss serving my goddess."  
  
Wren remembered that Kirn had been a devout cleric of Skylaris. She knew that on Sunday evenings, he gave prayers and offerings to his Goddess. It was beginning to catch on with the Gargoyles. A few joined him in singing and chanting their love for their long-lost goddess brought to them compliments of Kirn's recounts and oral recitation of Ainran texts.  
  
"A stranger in a strange land." His dark brown eyes mysteriously misted over. "Lady Skylaris told me that life here would not be easy. It has been good to me. Yet, my heart longs for my homeland and a mate to call mine."  
  
Demetrius understood his loneliness well. [I longed for a love to captivate and inspire me. I wanted a lover foreign and exotic from all other Dames I knew. How was I to know that I'd find love with someone not of my race? How was I to know that an austere, inhibited researcher would fill my senses and stir my spirit in such ways. I thank Goddess each night for bringing Wren into my life. It is a burden to not know love. ]  
  
"I know your plight well, brother." Demetrius nodded in agreement. "Yet, if I remember not more than three nights past you were spending much time with Atalanta."  
  
"She attacked the Sojourner." He growled. "That does not sit right with me, Demetrius. Lady Wren is an oracle and sibyl of Skylaris. She carries her kiss upon her brow and knows her blessing. I've no wish to be near one who disregards the goddess' chosen."  
  
Wren felt the tension between them thicken like overcooked oatmeal. Demetrius and Atalanta once loved one another. Atalanta's hatred for humanity tainted her in her views regarding Wren. The golden Gargoyle reviled Wren for taking a Gargoyle mate. Kirn expressed a growing interest in the blacksmith.  
  
"She and I have made our peace." She crossed her fingers behind her back. She silently prayed her voice didn't waver as she spoke the words. She locked her gaze with the dark brown eyes of the Minotaur before her. "I harbor no grudges and keep no. ...acrimony for her."   
  
[Wren you lie like a cheap Persian rug.] Demetrius admonished his mate and opened his mouth to protest. She raised her brows at him in a silent beseechment to remain quiet.  
  
"It is wrong for the clan to shun her. It is wrong to withdraw the support and love of clan from her." Wren knew not from whence the words came, but they sounded right to her ears as she said them. "Only one with innocence can chastise and judge iniquity."  
  
"You speak wisely, Lady Wren." Kirn's head hung low in shame. "I will take your words to heart."  
  
[Wren, beware the words you speak.]  
  
{Demetrius, I'm no more an oracle or sibyl that there is a man that lives on the moon.] She scoffed at his disapproval. [Kirn obviously cares for Atalanta and this isolation imposed by the clan is silly. We need to get over and move on. If me saying a small fib will bring peace, then I'm for it.]  
  
"Hi guys!" A cheerful voice greeted them. They turned to see a lovely lavender Dame smiling at them. "How are you tonight?"  
  
"Angela! Come join us, sister." Demetrius welcomed her. "We have much mead and roast deer to offer you. I'm surprised you're not with the others celebrating the success of the Breeder's Moon."  
  
"Broadway and Kellen are on patrol. I'm waiting for their return." She found a place on a log to sit with wings folded about her. "Broadway and I are going to watch "Superman" when he's finished."  
  
"It's a good movie." Wren remembered the many nights alone in her apartment with only her computer and VCR for company.  
  
"Why don't you join us?" Angela took Wren's hand in hers. "Goliath and Adrienne will join us. Kirn, you've never seen a movie, have you?"  
  
"A Moooo-vie?" He sounded suspiciously bovine at that moment. Wren let loose a giggle and Demetrius gave her a stern look.  
  
"A form of entertainment." Angela explained. "Much like watching a play except that it's on film."  
  
"It sounds intriguing." Wren watched the Minotaur's eyes glow crimson in interest. "I find many of these world's marvels most interesting."  
  
""We should stop by our room and pick up some popcorn." Wren suggested. "You can't watch a movie without popcorn."  
  
"Agreed." Demetrius swept her into his arms.  
  
"Can't we walk?" She looked upwards and shrank in his embrace. "I hate heights."  
  
"Trust me, Love." He whispered softly. "I shall not let you fall."  
  
"I know, I know. But Demetrius, can't we walk?" She looked at him with frightened eyes. "Please?"  
  
Demetrius knew he was lost. He felt her fear tear at his heart through their empathic bond. He smelled fear upon her brow and thought he heard her pulse quicken. His sadness at them not being able to enjoy the night skies tugged at his heart. He quickly brushed away the melancholy thoughts and wished only to please his consort. One talon found its way to caress her cheek. Without a thought, she instinctively turned her lips to press a kiss into his palm.   
  
The heat of her tender affection brought an avalanche of passionate sensations to the powerful Gargoyle. He turned his head away and growled in resignation. He folded his wings about him and offered her his hand. "Oh, all right. We shall walk."  
  
"Should we invite Atalanta to join us?" Asked Angela.  
  
Wren bristled at the thought of being in that close of proximity with the golden gargoyle. Demetrius looked at her with lavender eyes gleaming with mirth. [Milady, remember your words that you harbor no acrimony against her.]  
  
"Don't use my words against me, Demetrius." Her words came out more with a growl. His wings flared in disbelief at the ferocity of her response.  
  
"Never, My Love." He responded with contriteness.   
  
"Where is Atalanta?" Angela interrupted looking over to the dying fire not so far from them.  
  
The trio looked in the same direction to find the fire still burning but unattended. Kirn looked to his friends. "That's odd. Why would she live the fire unattended? She is not usually so careless."  
  
He walked the short distance to the campfire. Kirn kicked several piles of dirt upon the smoldering embers. He placed the hearthstones surrounding the pit upon the final flame to extinguish them. When the last flame died out, he returned to join his friends. "Let us see if we can find her. I owe her an apology for my shortness this past fore night."  
  
They searched the beach where other gargoyles enjoyed the bonfires. A large gargoyle of forest green coloring and frost white hair walked toward them. He wore it in the long, flowing style traditional of Gargoyles expect his was loosely bound near the end where it hung to the middle of his back. Wren noted that Kellen was one of only a few Gargoyles that wore any form of armor. Upon his shins he wore vambraces. His kilt was of the same tartan as that worn by other members of the clan.  
  
"Kellen, have you seen Atalanta?" Demetrius approached his rookery brother.   
  
The verdant Gargoyle nodded. "She said that she wished to watch television in the castle."  
  
"Thank you." Demetrius nodded. The group continued to the castle. They searched for the Golden Gargoyle without success. It was decided to invite her another time.  
  
"Well, let's go get the popcorn and we can settle in and watch a good movie." Wren opened the door to their room. "Come on in, guys. No since waiting in the hall."  
  
Her lowlight vision allowed her to view the room clearly in almost complete darkness. She noticed that furniture had been overturned. Clothing was strung about the chamber. The mattress had been ripped to shreds. She heard Demetrius growl, Angela snarl, and Kirn snort. She heard a roar in front of her and saw two glowing crimson beacons moving in the darkness. Wren used her slender, agile tail to find the light switch and to illuminate the destroyed bedchamber.  
  
A Dame stood before them with annulus tightly in hand. Metallic gold shimmered in the artificial light. Her tail flicked violently. She crouched in a defensive posture ready for any onslaught the other might partake. Atalanta's eyes never left Wren Summers.  
  
"Atalanta! What in the hell do you think you're doing in here?!" Wren's brows came together in anger. "Why have you invaded our chamber and destroyed our room?"  
  
"You and your influence have contaminated my clan." Atalanta sneered. "My brothers and sisters lie around on the beach drinking mead and singing when they should be patrolling. You have stolen one of the few good males left in our clan and turned him into a human-lover. You steal my finest work and then portray your blunders with it like they were great adventures. You sicken me."  
  
"That doesn't answer my question." Wren flexed her talons and advanced. "So, you have a problem with me being here. I can understand that. That doesn't give you the right to invade my private space, destroy my home, and steal my annulus."  
  
"Don't make the mistake of EVER think it was yours, Human." The Dame moved slowly toward the window. "The Magus commissioned it in 980 on behalf of Oberon. It was a gift for Queen Mab of the Fae and never meant for human possession. I am taking back what is rightfully that of Queen Mab."  
  
"The Annulus chose me. Skylaris has chosen me to wield it."  
  
"Only because you've seduced her son. She is our goddess but far from omnipotent." The Annulus glistened in the moonlight. "She will soon see you for the vermin you are once she finds out that you've reduced our clan to a bunch of Drunken sloths instead of great warriors."  
  
Wren whipped her tail in a rapid blur and wrapped it tightly around the circlet. "It has chosen me. Give it back."  
  
"Atalanta, Wren has helped our clan." Angela stepped forward.  
  
"Stay where you are, young one. I've no quarrel with ye. Nae it matters to me that ye're Goliath's daughter. If ye interfere, I'll set ye right as I will any other." The warning from the Golden Gargoyle caused Angela to crouch defensively.  
  
"I don't like your tone of voice."  
  
"Young one, some day you'll understand that humans can't be allowed to live. They destroy our kind at every opportunity." Atalanta's eyes gleamed scarlet.  
  
Wren felt Atalanta's superior strength gaining victory as the Dame attempted to wrest it from Wren's grasp. "I think not, vermin. You were bad enough as a human and now look at you. You're neither human nor gargoyle with your deformed tail and your talons."  
  
"Atalanta, cease this fruitless warfare." Demetrius cried out to his rookery sister. "Milady Wren, I beg you to leave this matter be."  
  
"Demetrius, stay out of this." Wren never took her eyes from the Dame across from her.  
  
"You've been tainted, brother. Ye've no right to speak until you rid yourself of the beast ye mate with." The Dame's Scottish burr thickened with the onset of battle.  
  
Hazel eyes gleamed amber as the harsh words hit home with Wren. Atalanta smiled when she noticed that Wren seemed dazed. She pushed the smaller female backwards and sent her sprawling on her back. "Before you were an annoyance. Now you are an abomination. Your own kind will no longer accept you. Resign yourself to being the freak you are."  
  
Wren charged the Dame and grabbed the Annulus. She took her smaller, thinner tail and wrapped it securely around Atalanta's wrist. She gave a wicked smile to the Gargoyle. "At least Demetrius loves me."   
  
"You BITCH!" The Dame shrieked and leapt forward knocking Wren again to the ground.  
  
Wren brought her feet solidly into the Gargoyle's midsection and used her new and improved strength to push her upwards. The golden Gargoyle flew toward the ceiling and impacted with the rafters above her. Gravity won out and brought her soundly to the ground.  
  
Wren turned away once she saw the slack female lying unconscious on the ground.  
  
"Atalanta!" Demetrius rushed to her side. He felt for a pulse and sighed heavily in relief. "She is unconscious, but she lives."  
  
"Thanks for all the help!" Sarcasm dripped from Wren's lip like venomous acid. "You didn't do one thing to help me."  
  
"Milady, you sought battle and was not about to distract you."  
  
"You could have stopped her." She screeched.  
  
"Wren, listen to me." He kept his words quiet and modulated. His Scottish lilt always became heavy when stress plagued him. "I knew not that she would attack. I could not respond because I was aghast by her behavior."  
  
Wren's face turned pallid when he spoke those words. Her mouth went agape and her eyes widened. "Demetrius!"  
  
A deep pain seared through the skin between where wings and back met. He arched in surprise and lavender eyes met hazel. He tried to speak but no words came from his lips. He reached out to his mate. Wren felt him slump forward in his arms. She gently lowered him in the ground and found the Annulus buried in his back.  
  
"Ye weren't supposed to step in the way." A small whisper brought Wren back to reality. She saw Atalanta staring at the black Gargoyle lying lifeless on the floor. "I never meant for you to take the blow of the annulus."  
  
"Demetrius!" Wren dropped to her knees and cradled his head in her arms. Tears rushed from her eyes as she stroked his thick, argent mane. She returned her attention to the Dame standing on the window ledge. "Begone from this island and never return. Pray that whatever deity watches over you keeps you hidden. So help me God, Atalanta! If he dies, I will hunt you and make you pay for what you've done."  
  
"I'm sorry...." The blacksmith whispered brokenly. Tears fell freely from her blue eyes. "I never meant-"  
  
"GO!" Wren roared and eyes gleamed. "This isn't your home anymore."  
  
The beautiful golden gargoyle unfurled her wings and was swallowed by the night. Wren turned to Angela and Kirn. She sobbed while she rocked back and forth with her lover in her arms. The lavender Gargoyle bent down to extract the bloody Annulus from Demetrius' back.  
  
"We need to get Goliath and a doctor." She said quietly. "He needs medical attention."  
  
"He's not going to make it until sunrise." Wren cried. She felt the affinity between them fading. She no longer felt the warm, fiery presence of her lover dwelling in her mind. She sensed encroaching coldness and death claiming him. "We don't have that long."  
  
"He can't die." Angela looked down at her rookery brother. She leaned forward until her lips were next to one dark pointed ear. "Hang on, Demetrius, just until sunrise. Then a stone nap will heal you."  
  
"Have you no clerics or mages to heal him?" Kirn found his voice for the first time in several minutes. "Surely you have a healer on Caledon Isle?"  
  
"No." Angela closed her eyes to stop the flow of tears. "We have a visiting physician once a month. You're the only cleric I know here. Can you heal him?"  
  
"Alas, no. My powers are weak here and have no way of renewal." He examined the deep wound that slashed across Demetrius' back. "I guess she severed his spine and collapsed one of his lungs."  
  
"What can we do?" Wren threw her hands in the air. "He doesn't have long!"  
  
"Cast the spell on the Annulus, Wren." Kirn said. "We must return to Ainran. That is Skylaris' home realm. When we are there, I shall take him to the Temple and heal him upon her sacred alter."  
  
"Are you sure it will work?" Wren knew there weren't any second chances.  
  
"I am more certain we can save his life there than here."  
  
"Then, we'll do it." She wiped the Gargoyle blood from the circlet on her jeans. Her hands trembled as she cradled his head in her lap.   
  
Angela grabbed a blanket from the floor and draped it over Demetrius. She wrapped her tail tightly around Wren will kneeling over the dying Gargoyle. Kirn knew enough to hold tightly to Demetrius. Wren said nothing and wrapped her tail around the Minotaur's waist. They all held on to their fallen friend and brother.   
  
Wren cleared her throat and forced herself to think clearly.   
  
"Advent of a shadow realm  
Cast by my hand this weapon made  
Unloose this Magick unbolt this gate  
To Skylaris' home realm do lead the way."  
  
A mist of mint and saffron rose from the stone floor of the chamber and swirled around them. The Annulus radiated brilliance akin to the glow of a Gargoyle's stare. The mist rose until it surrounded them in a veil of hue and vapor. A brilliant column of gold light brightened so much that they closed their eyes from the brightness of it. There was a loud clap of something akin to thunder.  
  
Had anyone else been in the room, that individual would have seen a Gargoyle, a Minotaur and two Nightkind vanished in a blink of an eye.  
  
********  
  
[I feel as though I'm being dragged over lightning and saltwater.] Kirn thought as he slid through the slipstream. The tendrils of lightning wrapped around him and tried pulling him in every direction. His limbs felt as though they had fallen asleep. He no longer saw Angela, Demetrius or Wren. Never before had he felt so alone and confused. Gone was the bedchamber that surrounded them. He prayed to his goddess that his death was quick.  
  
Not more than a breath later, he found himself and his comrades in physical contact and breathing heavily. He saw that Wren's hair looked disheveled and her complexion pallid. He noticed Angela turning away and retching. He saw that Demetrius looked no different except that his eyes held a glazed expression.  
  
Kirn gathered his wits about him and found that they were in a glen of some kind. Thick, heavy foliage grew about them. Branches poked him from all sides. The growth was so thick that it formed a canopy above them almost blocking out the light of the sun. [Sunlight! This will bring about stone sleep and heal Demetrius!]  
  
Kirn jubilantly looked down only to find his friend still flesh and bone instead of rock and stone. He cast his gaze upon Angela and found her staring blankly at the sky. She pointed mutely through the trees at the brightness above them. "What is that?"  
  
"That, Angela, is sunlight."  
  
"Why haven't I turned to stone?" She whispered.   
  
"If we're in Ainran, then the magick here keeps you flesh and bone all the time." He replied.  
  
"Do you think that we have returned to Ainran?" Wren looked hopefully at Kirn. "I tried to focus my mind upon it."  
  
"I've never seen Ainran by day." Kirn looked upwards at the pale cerise sky. "I only hope that we have found my home. I can't truly tell from here. The trees block my view."  
  
"I'll glide above the canopy and see what I can see from there." Angela volunteered.  
  
"Take me with you. I know the land of Ainran well." The Minotaur stood on his feed. Angela nodded in agreement. He took hold of her and she sank her talons into a nearby tree. Wren watched as the two scaled the side of the large tree that towered over them by several stories.  
  
Angela launched from the tree and circled overhead a few times with Kirn in her arms. Wren watched them glide out of sight and returned her attention to her dying mate. The tears flowed freely as she felt him drifting away from their link.  
  
"Please, don't die, Demetrius. I don't want to lose you. Hang on! You can make it." She wrapped the blanket more tightly around him to keep out the leaves and dirt from infecting the wound.  
  
Wren felt his chest rise and fall. Alarmed, she put her hand upon his chest and listened intently. She noticed that his breathing was no longer rapid or shallow. Perplexed, she held her fingers only a few inches from his mouth. He was breathing at an even pace. She nearly jumped to the branches above her when two lavender eyes slowly opened and stared at her.  
  
"Wren?" Came a hoarse, dry whisper.  
  
"D-d-Demetrius?" Had the goddess heard her plea?  
  
"Aye, Milady." He coughed. He turned his head to allow his throat and mouth to be free of the vile-tasting substance lurking within him. Wren took the edge of the blanket and wiped his face clean when he finished. "Where are we?"  
  
"Ainran, I think."  
  
"What are we doing here?"  
  
"Kirn thought it best to bring you here. He thought his powers as a cleric would be strong enough to heal you."  
  
"What happened? My back burns in pain."  
  
Wren froze where she knelt. [What do I say? How do I tell you that your rookery sister tried to kill you with my Annulus?]  
  
"Do you know what happened to me?" He pressed.   
  
Again, Wren remained silent.  
  
"Wren, I beg you to tell me if you know."  
  
She turned away unable to face the intense searing gaze he gave her. She cradled him in her arms and tried to find the strength to tell him what happened.  
  
"You were hurt." She studied the bark on a nearby tree.  
  
"How?"  
  
"You were wounded."  
  
"How?" He tried to sit up but the pain stopped him. He growled and eyes burned.  
  
"Atalanta tried to attack me with the Annulus but hit you instead." She whispered. She watched as the gravity of her words sank in. He began coughing violently. "It was an accident, Demetrius. I truly believe that! She'd never purposely hurt you."  
  
Angela and Kirn landed and walked to them. Kirn made no attempt to hide his joy when he saw that Demetrius was conscious. Angela ran forward and knelt by his side. Wren knew that wherever they were, it saved Demetrius' life.  
  
"You're alright!" The young Dame wrapped her arms around the darker Gargoyle. "You're alive."  
  
"Aye, Angela. I am becoming well." He pulled the blanket around him to block out the chill. "I am thirsty."  
  
"Understood." Wren nodded. "We'll have to find water."  
  
She turned her attention to Kirn and Angela. Kirn cleared his throat. "To the west, are a sea and a beach. It looks like Caledon, but, the sand is white and the water is crimson like the sky. We saw some ruins that looked like a castle about a half a mile from here."  
  
"That would give us shelter." Wren contemplated Kirn's report.  
  
"Can't we return home now?" Angela asked.  
  
"Not yet." Wren looked down at her lover's back and pointed. Kirn and Angela saw what she meant. The deep gash had scabbed over but was still fresh. "He needs water. It's as if he's severely dehydrated."  
  
"There must be fresh water nearby with all these trees." Angela looked around the clearing. "We'll have to walk."  
  
"No, you fly on ahead to the ruins." Wren turned to Kirn. "Can you find the ruins from here?"  
  
"Indeed." He answered. It won't take us more than an hour to get there."  
  
"Then, lead the way, my friend."   
  
They made their way through a thick and impenetrable wall of briars, branches and brambles. Limbs impeded their progress to a slow crawl. Thorns embedded themselves in Wren's tender skin and clothing making the trek rather unpleasant. The sun grew brighter with each passing moment. Wren saw that the thick canopy of foliage cleared away to reveal three glimmering orbs shining in the puce and rose sky. The forest remained but now it wasn't an untamable beast to be conquered.  
  
Angela appeared alone overhead with Demetrius in her arms. "There's a stream ahead. It's fresh water."  
  
  
"Thank Skylaris." The Minotaur gazed heavenwards. He found renewed vigor to clear away the last of the brambles. Wren followed quickly behind him. Her thirst intensified when she saw the bubbling brook snaking it's way in front of them.  
  
Wren forgot all propriety and dashed forward by the stream. Angela landed next to her. Wren cupped her hands and brought the cool, fresh water to Demetrius parched lips. The first sip seemed to restore him. The second sip seemed to heal him. The third sip caused him to dip his hands into the brook and drink enthusiastically from the clear waters.  
  
After several minutes of drinking water, Wren took out her kerchief and dipped it in the rushing water. She dabbed it at the wound in his back. She gasped when she found that the scabbed gash was now just a very ugly raised white scar marring the ebony perfection of his back. She told her lover what she saw and said nothing.  
  
After drinking their fill of the brook, they sat by its edge and contemplated their situation.  
  
"Soon, I'll be able to recite the incantation and we can go home." Wren told them.  
  
"I would like to investigate this land." Kirn interjected. "The sky is like home. The leaves are a dark blue and the river crimson. Yet, something is amiss here. Are we in Ainran or not? I think it wise for us to contemplate our current locale before attempting travel to another."  
  
"That sounds wise. We need to rest."  
  
"I'd like to enjoy the sunlight a little longer." Angela replied softly. "It feels warm on my back and I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to see again."  
  
"Agreed." Wren laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's a rare thing for a gargoyle to know the sun. I say we head for the ruins you spotted from the air."  
  
"We're not far, only a few more minutes walk." Kirn rose to his feet. "Demetrius, are you up for walking."  
  
"I am not quite myself, friend." The Gargoyle said weekly. Demetrius knew that pride was his bane. He knew with this particular group better than to fight any of them. It was in his best interest to simply let them carry him.  
  
The Minotaur easily carried his disabled comrade followed by Angela and Wren. They followed the winding curves of the stream for several minutes while dodging branches and heavy limbs from brushes and trees. Fatigue plagued Wren as she noticed that her talons were now fingers and her tail was gone. She looked to see if Demetrius became human but remained in his Gargoyle form.  
  
Angela stopped and sniffed the air. She put a hand on Kirn's shoulder to stop him from walking further. Wren caught the sweet scent that hinted of an orchard. They looked upwards and hues of orange and marmalade greeted their weary sight. Above them was a branch with fresh, succulent nectarines dangling invitingly from the branch.  
  
"I think we just found lunch." Wren's hand eagerly grabbed one of the luscious fruits from the branch. She washed it off in the stream and held it before her. She took one bite and chewed. The sweet and tart taste of the fruit flooded her senses and teased her taste buds. The thick, sweet juice caught on her lip and she quickly wiped it away. She held the fruit to her mate and let him take a bite.  
  
Angela ran forward several yards and leaped into the air. The watched the Gargoyle glide gracefully overhead and circle several times. She landed shortly and smiled with excitement. "This isn't the only tree. There are all sorts of rows of trees ahead and they extend to the wall of ruins."  
  
"Did you say rows?" Kirn persisted.  
  
"Yes! It seems to be an orchard of fruit trees."  
  
As the group ventured forward they found apricot trees, peach trees, apple and pear trees. Wren picked large, juicy cherries from the branches and popped the snacks into her mouth.  
"This place must have been beautiful at one time before everything was allowed to run wild with the wood."  
  
The group continued to follow the stream and eating the fill of the fruit. Demetrius found the strength to stand on his feet. With the help of an improvised walking stick, he slowly made his way with the others along the stream. They came across some grape vines crawling along a high wall of stone. It was an ancient structure by its appearance. Vines almost hide the stone from view. Moss covered it in a blanket of deep green.  
  
The quartet followed the wall and walked between it and the stream. The fruit trees seemed to lessen as they walked along the fortification. They stopped when they noticed the rotting remains of a wooden gate dangling from rusted hinges. Vines overran the rotting planks of wood that rose almost twenty feet above them. Kirn and Angela ripped away the vines with ease.  
  
They found themselves staring into an open space that stood surrounded by the ruins of the wall. Instead of being overrun by vines and trees, the clearing was only soft grass beneath their feet and rows of vividly colored wildflowers. IN the middle stood the remains of either a fountain or a well that had been filled in by dirt.  
  
"It seems that this was a gorgeous place at one time." Wren surmised. "It's such a shame that it's fallen to ruin."  
  
"Let's find out where we are." Angela's excitement was infectious.  
  
"I think you are wise." Demetrius agreed as he leaned the walking stick against the wall and stretched his stiffened limbs.  
  
*************  
  
TO BE CONTINUED....  



End file.
